Was small-town TV repair man Alvin Ridley a harmless eccentric or a bizarre killer?
In “Zenith Man: Death, Love, and Redemption in a Georgia Courtroom,” attorney McCracken Poston reveals the inside story of his most famous case and trial, which became a tale about not only his quest to clear his client’s name but also his journey to rebuild his own life.
In October 1997, reports of a murder shook the residents of Ringgold in northwest Georgia. A dead woman was found in Ridley’s house and, even more shockingly, she was the wife no one knew he had.
Poston had been a state representative before he lost his bid for U.S. Congress and returned to his law career. 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.
Ridley was a difficult client, storing evidence in a cockroach-infested suitcase, unwilling to reveal key facts to his defender. 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 Ridley and a wealth of surprising evidence gleaned from Ridley’s junk-strewn house, Poston presented a groundbreaking defense that allowed Ridley to return to his peculiar lifestyle a free man.
Years after his trial, Ridley was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, a revelation that sheds light on much of his lifelong personal battle. Part true crime, part courtroom drama and packed with local color, “Zenith Man” is also the story of an unexpected friendship between two very different men that changed the lives of both.
Citadel will publish a hardcover edition of “Zenith Man” Feb. 20. The book is available for preorder through web-based book retailers.