Oklahoma public officials lose bid to revive defamation lawsuit against Grisham, other writers

Okla. men lose bid to sue Grisham, other writers

DENVER — A federal appeals court in Denver ruled that three public officials from Oklahoma cannot revive their libel lawsuit against best-selling author John Grisham and two other writers.

The case was filed over books they wrote about the wrongful conviction of two men in a 1982 murder.

Oklahoma Pontotoc County District Attorney William Peterson, former Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation investigator Gary Rogers and criminalist Melvin Hett said the books defamed them and inflicted emotional distress, among other things.

The works included Grisham’s 2006 nonfiction piece “The Innocent Man” and chronicle the slaying of cocktail waitress Debbie Sue Carter in Ada, Okla., and wrongful convictions of Dennis Fritz and Ron Williamson.