Exoneration is the second Katie Hornsby legal thriller written by Tom Bleakley; a fictionalized account of a highly publicized murder trial. Novels and plays throughout history have starred women who insist on doing it their way -- savage, intemperate women, beautifully indifferent to the opinions of others, and young brilliant trial lawyer Katie Hornsby is no exception in this cliffhanger. Hornsby fights hard against a misogynistic judge and confronts a #MeToo dilemma painfully common to young working women today while defending her client charged with murder. A forensic toxicologist claims to identify a muscle-paralyzing drug in embalmed body tissue eleven months after death and the husband of the deceased is charged with murder. The universal scientific belief is that the drug cannot be detected within minutes of being given. The husband, a philanderer and inveterate liar, flees upon being charged only to be captured years later and brought back to the small town in Michigan to stand trial. Hornsby's intensity and conduct typifies the narrow roles allotted to women -- fictional women at that -- in everyday situations where many have faced obstacles for being unlikeable, too strong, or sexy. Katie, both strong and sexy, agrees to take on the case when approached by an inexperienced lawyer who has received the case assignment from the judge, a former prosecutor who thinks anyone charged with a crime is guilty. During the trial, the judge takes a liking to Katie who runs into him accidentally at a local tavern. His 'liking' takes on increasing intensity as the trial progresses, and Katie's responses trigger a series of negative actions by the judge in affecting the trial outcome. She does her best in meeting the challenges, and, in a surprise ending, is given an unexpected opportunity to help the client.