Guilty Until Proven Innocent

He was of average height, not fat nor thin - an average person around mid or late thirties.
He looked a little bit rough on the edges, but polite.
He said that he was a teacher, just moved to town.

Dennis came into my office one day that summer, looking for a rental. I did not have any. I did try to refer him to some others in town.
He lingered in the office, asking about job opportunities. 
I told him that I did not have any work for him in the office. He said he would do anything, yard work or house painting, before he started his teaching job. He said that he could use the money.

I told him that I did have a couple of rooms that needed to be painted at home. So we made arrangements for him to do the two rooms at my home. 

Dennis came not really prepared. Luckily, I had paint brushes, paints, drop clothes, and other materials ready. 
My husband had to go to town for something. So I was in the house and I painted along side with Dennis. During the few hours following, Dennis asked  to use my telephone to call his girl friend several times. By the time the two rooms were painted, I had done more work than he did. 
My husband came back. 
Dennis asked him for a ride back to where he was staying. My husband took him.
My husband always said I was a sucker for people who gave me sob stories.
I mere shrugged. I only tried to help.

Time went by.

My husband was reading the paper. He asked me if the guy who painted our room was named Dennis so and so. I said, yes. I asked him why he wanted to know.
"You had a murderer in our house!" he said.

Turned out that there was a terrible murder in town. Dennis and another person were arrested and convicted for murder.

I did not think that Dennis looked dangerous, I told my husband.

Dennis was convicted and was imprisoned for many years. He studied law while he was in prison. For years, he tried to prove to the court that he was innocent. Finally, with the help of a group that fight to prove the wrongfully imprisoned, and with the new technology of DNA, Dennis and the other person were proven innocent and released from prison. 
He wrote a book about his wrongful imprisonment. 
He devoted his time working to help the wrongfully imprisoned to be released. 

John Grisham wrote a book about the event. 
Grisham did not paint a good picture of Ada.