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Garrett Schuetz

MWF 11:45 (Turner)

Just Mercy Rhetorical Analysis

In ​Just Mercy​, author Bryan Stevenson is a lawyer who specializes in death row cases in

Montgomery, Alabama, and founded the EJI (Equal Justice Initiative) to help wrongly convicted

people get a fair trial and a shot at freedom. ​Just Mercy​ is a personal narrative about the legal

cases that Stevenson worked on throughout the years and primarily focuses on the injustices of

race, demographic, and mental illnesses, as well as the need to remove the death penalty for

children. In order to enact these changes, Stevenson needs to be an influential figure in the legal

world, and needs his opinions to be heard and seriously considered. Throughout the book,

Stevenson demonstrates incredible knowledge and insight into his cases, establishing credibility

and trust with the readers, showing the effort he puts into his job.

Since two major reasons for ​Just Mercy​ being written were for laws to be reformed for

children being tried as adults during death row cases, and to eliminate the racial and

socioeconomic bias being held in the criminal justice system, establishing credibility is a

necessary step. Stevenson clearly demonstrates experience, writing about many of his successful

cases, and builds the credibility necessary to attempt a reformation of current laws and practices.

If someone with as much experience as Stevenson has a suggestion to improve something, it

should be taken into consideration so that shortcomings in the current system can be reformed.

Stevenson uses contextual evidence from his previous cases to demonstrate knowledge

and credibility as a lawyer who helps the wrongfully imprisoned and people facing the death

sentence. In the example of Trina Garnett, Stevenson learned every aspect of her family by
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taking on her case and listening to her story. Stevenson knows almost everything about his cases,

using shocking but necessary sentences such as when the father “beat the [pet dog] to death with

a hammer and threw its limp body out a window” to show the mental health issues in the family

and the problems that Trina suffered with (Stevenson, P. 197). This is important because Trina

was tried as an adult when she was only 15 years old, also, and because of her mental illness, she

was unable to form an intent to kill making her unfit to stand trial. He also knows all about the

surrounding area, that “46 percent of the city’s children were living below the federal poverty

level” and that Trina was going to the “worst-ranked public school system among Pennsylvania’s

501 districts.” (Stevenson, P 197). By learning the background information behind this case,

Stevenson was able to get a better grasp of whether Trina was truly capable of understanding the

crime or if she was unaware of the consequences of her actions. By helping to find the real story

and winning the case for Trina, Stevenson is able to show his competence in the issue of the

justice system and mental illness, establishing his credibility dealing with this issue.

Even though the Trina’s case was in 1976, Stevenson recounts the story with stunning

detail, including the backstory of the house fire she started and the law which prohibited the

judge from considering other circumstances that would affect the outcome of the case. Stevenson

fights for justice for all his clients, and is committed to attempting to reform the legal system and

make it equal for everyone. Trina isn’t the only person throughout the book whose story has all

the details recounted by Stevenson. Walter McMillian’s case is also investigated by Stevenson,

where he visits and interviews Walter’s family as well as collecting evidence and testimonies

from community members that back up his character.

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Another key factor that establishes his credibility is that he successfully opens a law firm

called the EJI (Equal Justice Initiative). Stevenson clearly cares enough about these problems

that he is willing to take the financial risk of starting his own business in order to provide equal

justice for all of these convicted people. Not only did he work on the cases himself, but he also

hired other like-minded individuals to work under him. One of Stevenson’s hires was Michael

O’Connor, who had a “passion for helping people in trouble kindled by his own struggles earlier

in life” (Stevenson, P. 183). Stevenson also develops a close bond with Michael, and despite

learning all about his dark past and struggles, Stevenson hires him anyways. For Stevenson to

start from nothing, and to create a successful firm of over 70 employees just shows that he has

the determination and drive to help people, and knows all the ins and outs of the system. By

starting the EJI, Stevenson proves that he is willing to take big risks and truly cares for social

justice.

In addition to reading up on his clients and finding out the real story, Stevenson is also

persistent, and will fight to the very end in order to achieve justice for his client. After his retrial

proposal for McMillian gets shot down by the district attorney, Stevenson continues to fight the

case for five years until Walter finally gets exonerated. Stevenson battled discrimination

throughout the case and was still able to end the case successfully. Stevenson shows how

qualified he is by successfully winning numerous cases regarding race, demographic, and mental

illness. Stevenson establishes ethos by winning such cases and being proactive for his clients,

leading the reader to like Stevenson and appreciate all of the work that he has done over the

years.
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Stevenson also proves his knowledge of his cases by showing the reader statistics about

the areas around the convicted persons. For example, as mentioned earlier in the Trina Garnett

case, Stevenson knows all about the “46 percent of the city’s children … living below the federal

poverty level” in Trina’s city as well as information about the public school system in the area

(Stevenson, P. 197). This is helpful for building his cases, because he is able to convince the

judge and jury that the reason these events happened is attributed to the surrounding area and the

lack of chances the children have to get out. Stevenson is also able to talk about general

statistics, not only specific ones, saying “One in every fifteen persons born in the United States

in 2001 is expected to go to jail or prison” which is a huge percentage (Stevenson, P. 15). Since

Stevenson understands the struggles that many of his clients have, he attempts to use this

knowledge to change the judge’s viewpoint on the sentencing for the defendants.

Since he is so involved in these cases, Stevenson often doesn’t have time to have

socialize outside of work and becomes friends with his clients. Stevenson claims in his

experience with Walter that he “didn’t relate to one another as attorney and client but as friends”

(Stevenson, P. 139). He becomes very close with Walter McMillian, to the point where Walter

asks if Stevenson “can come and see [him] when [he] get[s] back? ... just [to] hang out.”

(Stevenson, P. 352). For Stevenson to hang out with his client Walter and even go fishing with

him once the case is finished, you can tell that he is a compassionate person who truly fights for

all individuals that need assistance, believing in Walter despite the difficulties that came with it.

Stevenson also says that “spending time with clients is important. Developing the trust of clients

is not only necessary to manage the complexities of the litigation and deal with the stress of a

potential execution; it’s also key to effective advocacy” (Stevenson, P. 140). By becoming close
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with his clients, Stevenson is able to learn more about their background, and uncover important

information about their lives that might affect the outcome of the court case such as childhood

trauma. Not only did Stevenson win the case for Walter, but he was also able to get “a few

hundred thousand dollars” for his time spent in prison from the various responsible parties

(Stevenson, P. 346-347).

Since Stevenson has so much experience interacting with these defendants and learning

their stories and battle with the system, he is the perfect person to pioneer a change within our

criminal justice system. Stevenson establishes credibility by establishing the EJI and by winning

numerous cases for his clients, and his opinion should be valued highly. Because of the stories

told to him through his defendants, Stevenson is able to identify the shortcomings in the law and

can be a vital resource to the lawmakers. Stevenson wants the readers of his book to

communicate these problems to the people in a position to change the law, and by establishing

credibility with his reader, accomplishes that goals.

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Works Cited

Stevenson, Bryan. ​Just Mercy: a Story of Justice and Redemption​. Spiegel & Grau, 2015.
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Section 1. Reflecting on your writing process

How did you begin? What was your reading process like? What about
planning/drafting?
When I read, I picked out the key moments so that I could easily go back and know
where to look if I needed more details.

Section 2. What part of this writing assignment

are you struggling with? Can you highlight 2 or 3
specific places in your draft for your partner to
offer feedback on?
What part of writing project 1 are you What specific places in your draft show
struggling with? this struggle?

1. Integrating other forms of 1. In some of the analysis

evidence while relating back to 2. The main topics of some of the
the original thesis paragraphs
2. Staying on topic

Section 3. What part of this writing are you feeling

good about?
I am feeling good about getting my point across and integrating quotes to show
Stevensons dedication towards his work. I am also feeling good about the way I layed
out the analysis.