I happened across a book while searching for volumes on famous trials. You see, I’m a retired trial lawyer and incurably, irresistibly drawn to the courtroom in my head and heart. Both head and heart were impacted by Oklahoma’s Atticus by Hunter Howe Cates. Perhaps you’ve read the book, but if, like me, you missed it, I hope you’ll be inspired to pick it up. It is the Oklahoma version of To Kill a Mockingbird.

In the spring of 1953, Elliot Howe was a recently minted, handsome and articulate part-time public defender in Tulsa. Mr. Howe, who was one-quarter Creek Indian, had not tried many cases when he was assigned the defense of one of the most notable criminal trials of the mid-1950s involving the murder and rape of 11-year-old Phyllis Jean Warren.

His client was accused 21-year-old Buster Youngwolfe, a Cherokee man with a wife and child but no job or standing. Mr. Youngwolfe lived in one of the tar paper shack shanties of north Tulsa and seemed destined for the electric chair.

Mr. Youngwolfe had confessed to the crime and even reenacted it in front of police officials and the press. But he had only done so after five relentless days of grueling interrogations without the benefit of much food or sleep. He seemed without hope or help until Elliot Howe took his case.

Author Cates, the grandson of Mr. Howe, does an excellent job of painting contrasts of the time. There was the stark contrast between the oil boom wealth of 1950s Tulsa and the dead-end poverty in north Tulsa. Mr. Howe compares the vitriolic and biased anti-Youngwolfe press coverage of The Tulsa Tribune with the professional, even-handed work of the Tulsa World. He paints stark differences between the state lawyers: Assistant County Attorney and future Oklahoma Gov. J. Howard Edmondson, alongside powerful County Attorney Robert Wheeler, arrayed against the lone, underpaid, underfunded public defender Mr. Howe.

The inadequate police investigation and their failure to pursue other viable suspects is laid out in compelling terms that would spark a rise of protest and table pounding from modern-day defense lawyers. The tunnel vision and seeming disregard of truth by the County Attorney’s Office compound the profound and pathetic failure of the entire justice system. Buster Youngwolfe was, however, no pure innocent. He had a criminal record and was on probation at the time of the crime. He lied about his whereabouts on the night of the murder (he had been out drinking, thereby violating his probation), and those lies deepened police suspicions. He initially confessed his guilt, reenacted the crime and then recanted his confession. He handed his lawyer a double Gordian knot.

But Mr. Howe obtains an acquittal with help from a surprising final expert witness who would never be allowed to testify in court today. The surprise finale is well worth the rising anticipation.

Mr. Howe’s conclusion calls on public officials to reopen an investigation into the death of Phyllis Jean Warren. He also encourages readers to support the Innocence Project in its fight against wrongful convictions and promoting justice reform. He states, “The purpose of this book can be summed up in a single statement: the presumption of innocence ... if injustice can happen to him or her it can happen to you or me. And if it can happen to you or me, none of us is truly free.”

Excellent advice to act on and an inspiring book to read.

Mr. Priest is a retired trial lawyer and nonprofit leader who now volunteers for the Innocence Project and serves as a mediator/arbitrator for Dispute Resolution Consultants. He can be reached at jim@sage-counsel.com.