Tonya Hailey
Tonya Hailey is the ten-year-old daughter of Carl Lee and Gwen Hailey. She is kidnapped by Billy Ray Cobb and Willard on her way home from the grocery store. Cobb and Willard rape her and attempt to murder her. The attack on Tonya is the inciting incident of the novel. The novel tracks her long healing process, both on a physical and psychological level.
Carl Lee Hailey
The father of Tonya. Enraged by the attack on his daughter, he kills her two rapists with an M-16 and is charged with murder. As a Black man in a predominantly white town in Mississippi, Carl Lee's trial highlights the deep and persistent structural and institutional racism present in the American South.
Jake Brigance
A young, white lawyer who is friends with the Hailey family from his previous successful defense of Lester Hailey. He has a young daughter himself, and he successfully defends Carl Lee.
Ellen Roark
A third-year law student at Ole Miss who offers her services as a clerk, for free, in the wake of the trial. Roark is the daughter of famous defense lawyer Sheldon Roark and is a member of the ACLU, like Lucien.
Lucien Wilbanks
Wilbanks is a disbarred attorney and a mentor to Jake. He helps with the case. Lucien is the last surviving member of the Wilbanks family, a legendary law family in Ford County, Mississippi. Jake's palatial office is Lucien's old office, given to him for the small price of $400 a month. Lucien uses his money, influence, and encyclopedic law knowledge to help Jake win the case.
Harry Rex Vonner
Harry Rex is a corrupt divorce lawyer and one of Jake Brigance's best friends. Harry Rex is famous for wiretapping a jury room, and always seems to have the inside scoop before anyone else. For example, Harry Rex is able to get Jake the list of potential jurors.
James Louis "Pete" Willard and Billy Ray Cobb
Two white racists, they attack Tonya and are murdered by Carl Lee. Billy Ray is a small-time drug dealer, and Willard is his stooge. Though they only appear in the first few chapters of the book, their actions and Carl Lee's reaction serve as the foundation for the plot of the novel.
Gwen Hailey
Gwen is Carl Lee's wife and the mother of Tonya Hailey and Carl Lee's sons. Even before Tonya's kidnapping, Gwen always worries about the children's whereabouts and wellbeing, because she knows that the highly prejudiced environment of Ford County is a dangerous place for her Black children.
Lester Hailey
Lester is Carl Lee's brother. He lives in Chicago and was the first of the Hailey's to be one of Jake Brigance's clients. Lester murdered a man with a knife a few years back, but Jake was able to get him an acquittal. Lester loves to drink, and despite the fact that he has a wife in Chicago, he loves to date while he's in Mississippi. Grisham emphasizes the fact that Lester is married to a white woman in Chicago, but that their relationship is not strong, and that she only married Lester because their interracial relationship was "in fashion."
Cat Brustler
Cat Brustler is an old war buddy of Carl Lee's. Carl Lee saved Cat's life in Vietnam, when Cat was shot in the head, an injury that led to him losing an eye. On that same day in Vietnam, Carl Lee was shot in the leg. The two are bonded through this trauma. Since returning to the States, Cat runs a huge restaurant and strip -club enterprise. He also deals drugs and arms on the side. Cat is a millionaire several times over, and offers Carl Lee free legal counsel with his personal defense lawyer. Brustler also provides the M-16 that Carl Lee uses to kill Cobb and Willard.
