Conviction, Denver Nicks
Conviction, Denver Nicks
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

Conviction
The Murder Trial That Powered Thurgood Marshall’s Fight for Civil Rights

Author: Denver Nicks, John Nicks

Narrator: Ron Butler

Unabridged: 6 hr 32 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/04/2019

Synopsis

On New Year’s Eve, 1939, a horrific triple murder occurred in rural Oklahoma. Within a matter of days, investigators identified several suspects: convicts who had been at a craps game with one of the victims the night before. Also at the craps game was a young black farmer named W. D. Lyons. As anger at authorities grew, political pressure mounted to find a villain. The governor’s representative settled on Lyons, who was arrested, tortured into signing a confession, and tried for the murder.The NAACP’s new Legal Defense and Education Fund sent its young chief counsel, Thurgood Marshall, to take part in the trial. The NAACP desperately needed money, and Marshall was convinced that the Lyons case could be a fundraising boon for both the state and national organizations. It was. The case went on to the US Supreme Court, and the NAACP raised much-needed money from the publicity.Conviction is the story of Lyons v. Oklahoma, the oft-forgotten case that set Marshall and the NAACP on the path that led ultimately to victory in Brown v. Board of Education and the accompanying social revolution in the United States.

About Denver Nicks

Denver Nicks is a contributor to Rolling Stone and National Geographic Traveler and a former staff writer for Time magazine. He is the author of Private: Bradley Manning, Wikileaks, and the Biggest Exposure of Official Secrets in American History and Hot Sauce Nation: America’s Burning Obsession.

About John Nicks

John Nicks is an attorney in Tulsa, Oklahoma, specializing in oil and gas, personal injury, and civil rights law.

About Ron Butler

Ron Butler is a Los Angeles–based actor, Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator, and voice artist with over a hundred film and television credits. Most kids will recognize him from the three seasons he spent on Nickelodeon’s True Jackson, VP. He works regularly as a commercial and animation voice-over artist and has voiced a wide variety of audiobooks. He is a member of the Atlantic Theater Company and an Independent Filmmaker Project Award winner for his work in the HBO film Everyday People.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Pat on January 17, 2022

Written by a lawyer and journalist (father and son btw!), this is a narrative of one of Thurgood Marshall’s early cases. A young black man named W.D. Lyons was accused in 1939 in rural Oklahoma of viciously murdering a man, his wife, and their 4 year old son. There was no evidence against Lyons exce......more

Goodreads review by Mackenzie on July 12, 2024

This is a great account of an Oklahoma civil rights case that provides insight into the inner workings of the genesis of the NAACP’s legal battles to secure rights for Black Americans. I highly recommend this book!......more

Goodreads review by Janet on July 01, 2019

Although Thurgood Marshall was making a name for himself, poor W.D. Lyons was convicted and served about 15 years of a life sentence. This book is no surprise as we know about racism.......more

Goodreads review by Gail on August 06, 2020

In 1940, long before the murder of George Floyd or the lynching of Emmett Till, a young Black man in Oklahoma - W. D. Lyons - was arrested for a murder he did not commit, beaten and tortured by sheriffs and the governor’s special investigator, and forced to confess. One of his attorneys was a young......more

Goodreads review by Paul on October 06, 2022

Well written. A tragic chapter in American legal and civil rights history. The book raises several ethical issues for attorneys. Thurgood Marshall and his co-counsel come across (and rightfully so) as great crusaders for civil rights. But they may have sacrificed their clients' freedom for the oppor......more

Quotes

“Conviction stamps the name of Willie D. Lyons indelibly on the social conscience.” New York Journal of Books

“This audiobook combines a superb performance with content so compelling that it becomes a must-listen. Narrator Ron Butler’s perfect delivery allows listeners to stay focused on Thurgood Marshall’s defense of Willie D. Lyons…Butler perfectly captures Lyons’s and Marshall’s personas and the impact this trial had…[An] extraordinary audiobook…Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” AudioFile

“By illuminating Thurgood Marshall’s earlier, leaner years, Conviction adds a much-needed dimension to the life of one of our more misunderstood civil rights heroes. The most pleasant surprise, however, is Denver and John Nicks’s well-rounded and engrossing portrayal of W. D. Lyons.” Patrick Parr, author of The Seminarian

“This book deserves a standing ovation. It…shine[s] a light on unforgivable transgressions as they explain how political pressure, intimidation, coercion, and torture can result in a forced confession and the imprisonment of an innocent man.” Michael Wallis,author of The Best Land under Heaven

Awards

  • AudioFile Earphones Award
Add to Cart
Add to Wish List