Almost Midnight : An American Story of murder and Redemption

by Michael W. Cuneo

Darrell Mease grew up in the Ozark Mountains of southern Missouri, in a slice of rural America where religion flourished and tradition thrived. Everyone said he was a good a bit of a clown, maybe not too serious about his studies, but sweet and kind and quick to make friends. When, as a clean-cut teenager, he signed up with the army, the people of Reeds Springs, Missouri, expected to hear nothing but good things about R.J. and Lexie Mease's eldest son.It wouldn't work out that way. Darrell Mease would end up on the front lines of the Vietnam War and would come home a drug addict. Over the personally tumultuous, drifting decades that followed, he'd make a new name for himself in the as a tough drug dealer. Then, in 1987, he gunned down a 69-year-old meth kingpin, his wife, and their 20-year-old paraplegic grandson. After a desperate cross-country escape, he was captured, hauled back to Missouri, and sentenced to death for his crimes.In jail, Mease experienced a religious conversion, and he made a shocking he would be saved by miraculous intervention.No one believed it would happen. But it did. On January 27, 1999, Pope John Paul II visited St. Louis and spoke to Missouri's then-governor, Mel Carnahan. It was the same date that authorities had set for Mease's execution. The pope asked that he be spared. Carnahan agreed.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Janeandjerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know that if you haven't read this book yet then I would like to say run and get your book now for it is that good. I actually found this book on my overdrive app from the library while searching for another book and I'm glad I did read it...
This is based on true events that happened in and around the Ozarks of Missouri and not to far from where we live as a matter of fact. I have always enjoyed reading books that take place in or around our area and with this one it sure hit the spot.

[Janice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Almost Midnight, by Michael W. Cuneo, is a well researched investigative documentary centering on a little known local boy turned outlaw whose execution is miraculous commuted by intervention from Pope John Paul II and Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan.

For anyone outside the southwest Missouri Ozarks, or not an advocate for the abolition of capital punishment, this journalistic gem might go unnoticed. Having lived in Greene, Taney and Stone Counties, where much of the saga unfolds, I found it intriguing.

Pentecostal reared, backwoods country boy, Darrell Mease, returns from Viet Nam addled by paranoia, alcohol and drugs, then by default or choice ends up working for local methamphetamine drug lord Lloyd Lawrence. Feeling betrayed and used by Lawrence, and with a $10,000 bounty on him imposed by Lawrence, Mease plots and carries out the cold blooded execution of Lawrence, Lawrence's wife and disabled grandson.

On the lam with his accomplice girlfriend Mary, they roadtrip through the southwest United States eventually being caught and returned to southwest Missouri to stand trial. Mease is convicted of first degree murder, placed on death row and issued an execution date of January 27, 1999, coincidently the date Pope John Paul II, famously opposed to the death penalty, is to make an unprecedented visit to St. Louis. Had the State of Missouri deliberately tried to insult the Pope, they could not have done a better job. Then, feeling the need to reset Mease's lethal injection date, the Pope's attention was drawn to Darrell Mease. Mease who had early on had a jailhouse, born-again, religious experience and maintained God as his lawyer and that God would literally set him free!

So, prophet; divine intervention; conspiracy of circumstance? We are left to decide, while Darrell Mease remains incarcerated for life still waiting God to set him free.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tough one as I couldn't decide between 3 and 4 stars. It's not really that long of a book, but something made it feel like I was reading it forever. There was a little too much detail into Darrell Mease's early life before the murder. There was so much that I never really got a good feeling what defined this guy; after all of it he remained a bit of an enigma. And something stated much later in the book made me wonder if any of the account was really true (can't really get into specifics).

I really thought going in that Pope John Paul took an interest in the case and there was a specific reason he wanted Darrell's life spared. Nope. Or if there was, it was never stated. It's a decent true crime book, and I give a mild recommendation.

[Js Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Cuneo masterfully takes this worldwide news story and humanizes it with indepth profiles of the principle characters. Beyond the "just the facts" stories in the media, Cuneo lays out the twists and turns of Mease's struggle with his own demons that seemed destine to seal his fate. The story is told against the backdrop of the isolated and sometimes dangerous Ozarks and its hardscrabble culture of poverty, crime and straight-laced take no prisoners Pentecostal religion. An amazing story.

[Sue Callaghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely well written, a hard-to-put-down kind of book. You feel like you are getting to know each character very very well.... made me want to meet Darrell and Mary.......

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

#59
Borrowed from library.

FS: "Deputy Jerry Doff of the Stone County Sheriff's Department was headed up Route 13 on a slow Sunday when the call crackled over the two-way."
LS: N/A

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Almost Midnight is a very readable true crime account and much more. In some ways, this tragedy could have been a Shakespearean play. In another way, it is a puzzle in which Cuneo prompts the reader to ponder the impact of war, the power of prayer, the politics behind the death penalty, the consequences of underemployment/poverty, the influence of environment, the separation of church and state, and so on. However all such issues are raised in a manner that does not turn the readers’ attention away from the drama unfolding in “the story” of Darrell, Mary, and Lloyd. Moreover, Cuneo raises the issues without insisting the readers all come up with the same answers or for that matter, tackle the issues at all. I am surprised (and relieved) that someone hasn’t turned this “story” into a movie. The book will stick with me.

[Ruth Ann Maynard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read. All this happened before I moved to the Ozarks, although, I do remember his life being saved by the Pope. It has been and still is a tough area in parts of the Ozarks. We have come along ways but there is a long way still to go. One thing that I never quite understood is why Darrell's defense didn't focus more on his military service. He was definitely dealing with PTSD which led to his difficulty once he returned from his year in Vietnam. He was not a drug user or drinker until he was there. He came home and never left the life style that was adopted while he was there.

[Jodi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not sure what to make of this book. The title that said three brutal murders put him on death row... the pope's plea for mercy saved his life. Im still not sure the whole story. The murders were really gruesome. Why the pop stepped in and asked for him alone to be saved is hard to believe. The story ran on alot and seemed to just end abruptly.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down. I worked in the courthouse where the trial was held during those times, so I might be a little biased. There were very few auxiliary people I was not familiar with and, of course, the crime itself was big news. Having said this, I think the story would be of interest to anyone who is a fan of true crime as there were a lot of strange, extremely ironic twists.

[Jane Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

True Crime

A good book, this one is well written and tells an interesting story. The book here is completely unexpected and surprising. I would think that any true crime fan will find it a good book to read.

[Wanda Corrales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enthralling

Very in-depth, easy reading. Detailed but easy to follow. You walk away with the feeling of having lived this as a witness to the story, whether as family, friend or relative.

[Andy Plonka · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know how I missed Darrell Mease's story when it happened. I guess I don't read the newspaper like I read books, but this book was fascinating. What a great cast of unusual people. The outcome demands some thinking about.

[Julia Dawn Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book

This book really illustrates the damage a war does to the minds of young people and adding drugs into the mix really complicates things. Nothing good ever comes from illegal drugs.

[Ellie Slager · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was good but It didn’t talk much about the Murder or the crimes. But it was still interesting. It wasn’t my favorite book though.

[Dona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had paused this for awhile and finally finished it.

It was interesting to me as I lived in this area for awhile and knew some of the characters.

[Rita · Rating 5 out of 5]

This author is great! The book is so well presented. There's no author ego. There is obviously a lot of research of not only the crime but also the local, the culture, the politics, the religiousness, etc. It is framed out so the reader feels the moment, the heat, the paranoia etc. It has to be one of the best true crime books I have read. I would live to have the author rewrite some of the crap written about some really great cases!

[Nelda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this because a friend I usually trust raved about it. It was the dullest book I've encountered in a long time--the true crime story about a murdered in Arkansas whose death sentence is commutued by the Gov at the request of Pope John Paul II. It reads like a journalist wrote it and my final thoughts were "who cares?"

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about murder but it reads like a fiction book not like other true crime books. I found myself wanting to get to the end to see if everything happened the way I wanted it to,

[Michelle Cleaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because it happened in the area around where I grew up. My friends knew Darrell's sons. I found the book interesting.