Zenith Man
(Book)

Part true crime, part courtroom drama, this moving story of an unexpected friendship between two very different men recounts the case of Alvin Ridley, an autistic TV repair man accused of murdering his wife, and the lawyer who believe in--and proved--his innocence. In October 1997, the town of Ringgold in northwest Georgia was shaken by reports of a murder in its midst. A dead woman was found in Alvin Ridley's house--and even more shockingly, she was the wife no one knew he had. McCracken Poston had been a state representative before he lost his bid for U.S. Congress and returned to his law career. Alvin Ridley was a local character who once sold and serviced Zenith televisions. Though reclusive and an outsider, the "Zenith Man," as Poston knew him, hardly seemed capable of murder. Alvin was a difficult client, but gradually, Poston pieced together the full story behind Virginia and Alvin's curious marriage and her cause of death. Calling on medical experts, testimony from Alvin himself, and a wealth of surprising evidence gleaned from Alvin's junk-strewn house, Poston presented a groundbreaking defense that allowed Alvin to return to his peculiar lifestyle as a free man.