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Chapter 17
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Sun Does Shine, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Discrimination and the Criminal Justice System
Optimism, Faith, and Choice
The Death Penalty
Suffering, Community, and Support
The Power of Stories
Summary
Analysis
Ray talks to his mom about Bryan, explaining that the lawyer is going to come see her. Ray’s mom wants him to come home now, and he grows upset—she hasn’t come to see him in a long time because the seven-hour drive is too difficult. Ray knows his mother is sick, but no one tells him anything specific about her condition because they don’t want to worry him, and Ray can’t face this reality knowing that he can’t do anything for his mom.
Ray highlights the deep cost of the biased criminal justice system on his life. His conviction has not only stripped him of his ability to live his own life, but it has also prevented him from spending time with his mother as her condition worsens.
Themes
After Bryan starts the case summary, he returns to Holman on a regular basis. He and Ray become friends, talking about things like football and family. Ray observes that Bryan’s work really wears on him—he carries a big burden. During Bryan’s visits, he talks about justice and mercy, explaining that he believes no one is beyond redemption or undeserving of life. Ray is grateful for Bryan’s drive, compassion, and friendship.
Bryan’s support for Ray is invaluable, as he not only represents Ray as a lawyer but also becomes a friend to him. Bryan’s discussions of the death penalty and justice also introduce his arguments for why the death penalty should be abolished: no one is undeserving of redemption. This implicitly ties back to Ray’s relationship with Henry, as Ray noted how Henry showed his true remorse on death row.
Themes
The case summary that Bryan prepares is almost 200 pages long, and Ray is glad that Bryan wants him to review it—he feels like he has a voice in his own defense. In a letter, Bryan explains that the supervisor and two other workers at Manpower can back up Ray’s alibi. Bryan is also talking to Ray’s mom and others who can verify that Ray was at church that night before going to work. They expect a hearing between August and October of that year—1999.
Bryan’s care for Ray’s opinion provides another sharp contrast with Perhacs. Ray truly feels that Bryan is on his side because he listens to Ray’s ideas, and he also puts in as much work as possible for Ray’s trial. It is notable that Perhacs didn’t find anyone to back up Ray’s alibi in the initial trial or appeal. All of these facts collectively make Ray feel that Bryan genuinely supports him, and he starts to feel more positive about his appeals process again.
Themes
Bryan finds two ballistics experts from Texas and another from the FBI—three unimpeachable white men who say that none of the bullets from any of the three robberies match Ray’s mom’s gun. They also find that the state’s paperwork around the ballistics evidence is very spotty. On the phone, Bryan says that they can likely prove that the only evidence against Ray is false. Ray starts to choke up, saying how grateful he is. Bryan promises to get Ray home.
That Bryan’s immense effort on Ray’s case causes Ray to choke up illustrates how much Ray feels supported by Bryan. Bryan’s promise to bring Ray home also highlights his commitment to find justice and his belief in Ray’s innocence after so much bias against him.
Themes
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Three years later, in February 2002, Bryan sends another letter to Ray explaining that the chief deputy district attorney in Jefferson County knows that there is a problem with Ray’s case, and Bryan is hoping that they will concede that Ray is innocent because of the mistaken ballistics evidence. Judge Garrett schedules the hearing for March 11–13, 2002. Bryan is optimistic that things are going well for the case and tells Ray to keep his head up.
Bryan continues to support Ray, not only in working hard on Ray’s case but also in emotionally buoying him. The fact that Bryan is hopeful about the case also helps Ray stay positive about the hearing’s outcome.
Themes
Bryan also sends his memo for the hearing to Ray, in which he presents the evidence of bias in the trial: for example, the police gave Ray’s name to Smotherman before showing Smotherman a lineup that had Ray’s initials on his picture. Bryan also tells Ray that Perhacs and McGregor were friends, and that McGregor has a history of racial bias. Ray can feel his anger bubbling again, knowing that the state of Alabama has now stolen 16 years of his life, but instead he chooses to pray and try to forgive. He has to believe that God is on the side of justice. Sometimes at night, Ray dreams that his time on death row isn’t real, and one day he will wake up in July 1985 at 29 years old, and his mom will comfort him.
The evidence that Bryan brings up here is even further confirmation of the bias that Ray experienced. The police and the court system purposefully manipulated Ray’s case—literally biasing Smotherman into confirming that Ray was the person who shot him, or knowing that Perhacs and McGregor may have been conspiring against him. Ray also emphasizes the cost of this discrimination: a valuable 16 years of his life so far. At the same time, Ray illustrates how far he has come since his first few years on death row, because he makes an effort to forgive and be positive rather than to hate.
Themes
