Jack Hill, a Jonesboro, Arkansas, television newsman who had been looking into the shenanigans of the sheriff of St. Francis County, began probing the Dumond case. He found an appalling trail of evil and corruption so widespread that even then-governor Bill Clinton was forced to address it. Hill discovered that Dumond's severed testicles were taken by the sheriff who displayed them like a trophy. After tests proved that Dumond could not have been the rapist, Hill pressed Clinton for clemency. The governor refused, even after his own parole board recommended that Dumond be released. It turned out that Clinton was a cousin of the rape victim and a political ally of the prosecutor who put Dumond away. When Clinton ran for president, he turned the case over to the lieutenant governor, who reduced Dumond's sentence.
Unequal Justice is the true story of a judicial system gone terribly wrong. Dumond, a Vietnam War veteran with a checkered past, was not much of a hero. But Jack Hill, who fought a crooked sheriff and sacrificed his livelihood in the process, became a saviour to oppressed Arkansas residents who voted the corrupt politicians out of office and began to fight their way out of poverty and ignorance. Unequal Justice is more than just the story of a corrupt Southern sheriff and the political decisions of a governor who would become President. Author Guy Reel addresses some of the greater issues of American democracy: the powers and failures of the press, the corruption and redemption of their politicians, government's ability to protect the constitutional freedoms we take for granted, and much more.
Guy Reel is a journalist with The Memphis Commercial Appeal daily newspaper.
261 pages