Ray acknowledges his wrongdoing and pays his time for doing it. And in doing so, he is able to reevaluate what matters most to him: primarily his family and the community around him, his Christian faith, and his ability to live life as a free man. Yet this is what makes Ray’s subsequent conviction so heartbreaking, because readers recognize Ray’s remorse and understand how much the state of Alabama takes away from him when he is wrongfully convicted.