Presumed Innocent

Presumed Innocent is a 1987 crime novel by Scott Turow; it was his first novel. Turow has received wide acclaim for the accuracy and realism of his depiction of the inner workings of the legal system; a verisimilitude that derives from his own background as a prosecutor for the US Attorney's Chicago office. Presumed Innocent centers on, and is told from the point of view of, prosecutor Rožat "Rusty" Sabich. Rusty Sabich is the deputy prosecuting attorney of (the fictional) Kindle County, who comes to be accused of murdering his former colleague, Carolyn Polhemus. His investigation of her death, and later, indictment for it, provide the impetus for the plot. A film adaptation of the novel starring Harrison Ford was released in 1990.

The novel opens with the discovery of Carolyn Polhemus' dead body. She is found dead in her apartment, after having apparently been raped. It is at first assumed that her death was the result of an S&M scenario that accidentally went too far. She has suffered extreme blunt force trauma to the head, but no weapon is found at the scene of the crime. The district attorney assigns Rusty to her case, despite the fact that she was a colleague of his. This makes Rusty anxious, as he'd had a secret affair with Polhemus up until just a few months before her death. He is afraid the investigation into her death will bring that to light – and betray a clear conflict of interest on his part.

Rusty, however, feels he has no choice but to take on Carolyn's case. He decides not to disclose their affair for multiple reasons. Among other things, he is worried what the public disclosure will do to his wife, Barbara, and his son, Nat. He is also busy at the time working on his boss, Raymond Horgan's, campaign for re-election as Kindle County prosecuting attorney. Rusty has worked for Raymond for twelve years, and proven himself a very loyal underling. Nonetheless, Raymond is a ruthless man, and if he isn't re-elected, Rusty fears he will lose his job.

Rusty has an assistant in his investigation in the form of Dan Lipranzer, otherwise known as “Lip.” Lip is a police officer, and is looking into the forensic details of the crime for Rusty. Raymond loses his bid for chief prosecuting attorney to Nico Della Guardia, an ex-employee who Rusty previously fired. The investigation progresses, and Rusty learns that Raymond had also had an affair with Carolyn at one point.

Rusty's relationship with his wife has been heavily, and negatively, impacted by his affair, and several chapters concerning their tense home life intersperse chapters about the investigation. Eventually, evidence incriminating Rusty surfaces, and he's indicted for Carolyn's murder. The evidence in question consists of a record of calls from his home to Carolyn's on the night of the murder, a drinking glass with Rusty's fingerprints on it, and some other physical evidence. To his surprise, he learns that Raymond is set to testify against him, even after all his years of faithful service. Raymond, it seems, is angry that he has lost his re-election campaign, and embarrassed by how Carolyn's death reflects on him. For these reasons, he has conspired to frame Rusty for the murder. In response to the news that he is being indicted, Rusty turns to Alejandro “Sandy” Stern. Sandy is a longtime courtroom nemesis of Rusty's, but Rusty hires him to represent him in court.

Lip helps Rusty look into the possibility that police corruption may have played a part in his indictment. During the trial, it comes to light that the judge overseeing Carolyn's case also had an affair with her – making him the third man involved in the investigation of Carolyn's murder to have previously been romantically involved with her. Not only that, but evidence surfaces that he and Raymond have both been accepting bribes from other suspects in her death.

Sandy, after some courtroom maneuvering, is able to cast doubt on the forensic evidence against Rusty, which helps his case. More importantly, one of the most important pieces of physical evidence against Rusty goes missing. Because of this, the case ends up being dismissed for lack of evidence. While Rusty is relieved, his relief is limited, because he is now suspected of having gotten away with murder. He returns home, where he makes a horrifying discovery: it was in fact his wife who killed Carolyn. She killed Carolyn out of revenge for her affair with Rusty.

Turow's novel is often considered an exceptional and genre-defining example of the crime novel, even despite the rather unsurprising “twist” ending (which has often been slated by critics). Many of the characters in the novel also feature in other Turow novels, most of which are set in Kindle County, a fictional Midwestern region. Turow wrote a sequel to Presumed Innocent, published in 2010, titled Innocent.