Atlanta Injury Lawyer Blog
Last week we were thrilled to have Georgia Trial Lawyer McCracken King Poston, Jr. be our guest speaker at Lawyers Club of Atlanta. McCracken regaled the crowd of over 200 attorneys with stories about his trial in Ringgold, Georgia in which he represented Alvin Ridley, who was accused of holding his wife captive in their basement for almost three decades before killing her.
McCracken Poston is a former four-term legislator in the Georgia House of Representatives. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and is a 1985 graduate of The University of Georgia School of Law. He has practiced law for 39 years in Georgia. He gained national attention for his handling of several notable cases that were featured on CNN Presents, Dateline NBC, A & E’s American Justice and Forensic Files.
McCracken’s new book “Zenith Man: Death, Love and Redemption in a Georgia Courtroom” tells the tale of Alvin Ridley, accused of murdering his wife, and McCracken’s courtroom battle for Justice for Alvin. Alvin 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—which was completely overlooked by law enforcement. Calling on medical experts, testimony from Alvin himself, and a wealth of surprising evidence gleaned from Alvin’s junk-strewn house, Poston presented a groundbreaking defense that allowed Alvin to return to his peculiar lifestyle, a free man.
It was only after the trial that Alvin Ridley was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, which explained how throughout his life he was misunderstood by his community. For many years after the trial, Poston and his secretary continued to help Mr. Ridley navigate a neurotypical world until Alvin’s passing at age 82 in July 2024, four months after the release of this book. In that short time after the book release, Alvin was uplifted by more love, affection, and understanding from the region than he had ever experienced in his entire adult life, enjoying book events and giving talks.
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution said this about the book “Zenith Man”: “A wild ride of love, death, and justice in small-town Georgia. McCracken Poston, Jr shares intimate knowledge of a sensational case. This highly engaging read combines the best parts of hard-boiled true crime with a host of colorful characters, a small-town Southern setting, and Poston’s natural gift for gab. The results beg for an eight-part Netflix series.”
My good friend Lester Tate, my co-host of our podcast See You In Court, and I had the pleasure of having McCracken as a guest on our podcast, which you may watch on YouTube or you may listen to on Spotify or any podcast platform. You may learn more about See You In Court and the Georgia Civil Justice System here.
Alvin Ridley and his trial became of such interest in the community that acclaimed folk art painter, Howard Finster, painted a portrait of Mr. Ridley, who is seen wearing his famous neck brace that he wore throughout the trial. I don’t know of any other trial of such fame that has motivated Mr. Finster to paint a commemorative artwork of a trial.
It was a packed house that night at Lawyers Club. I prepared McCracken by warning him that Lawyers Club dinners can sometimes resemble British Parliament, with loud and boisterous unasked for commentary from our members. Rumor has it this was the quietest our members have ever been because they were all so riveted at McCracken’s trial tale. It is a wild tale of devotion of a Georgia Trial Lawyer to Justice and to his client, a tale so crazy you think it has to be made up, except it isn’t…it really happened. Read “Zenith Man”. You won’t be disappointed. And I can’t wait for that 8-part Netflix series!
Robin Frazer Clark is a trial lawyer who pursues justice for those who have personal injury claims as a result of being injured in motor vehicle wrecks, trucking wrecks, defective products, defective maintenance of roads, premises safety, medical malpractice and other incidents caused by the negligence of others. Ms. Clark is the 50th President of the State Bar of Georgia, a Past President of Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, a Past President of the Lawyers Club of Atlanta and has practiced law in Georgia for 37 years. She is a member of the International Society of Barristers and of the American Board of Trial Advocates. She is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Mrs. Clark is listed as one of the Top 50 Women Trial Lawyers in Georgia and the Top 25 National Women Trial Lawyers and is a Georgia Super Lawyer. Ms. Clark is the co-host of the podcast “See You In Court,” sponsored by the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation. Ms. Clark has tried over 75 jury trials and argued in Georgia Appellate Courts over 45 times.
Robin Frazer Clark ~ Dedicated to the Constitution’s Promise of Justice for All.
