The Fyodor Dostoyevsky Group discussion

This portion covers the whole of Book IX: The Preliminary Investigation, starting from Book IX. Chapter 1. The Start of the Official Perkhotin's Career till the end of Chapter 9. Mitya Is Taken Away.

At this point (the end of Book IX) I think the reader believes that Dmitri is innocent. Among other things, the reader has been following the narrative of Dmitri’s activities and the murder of his father hasn’t been among them. However, one can also see how the examining officials have every reason to believe he committed the murder. The evidence is all against him. There is no evidence in his favor. Because of his erratic and impulsive behavior he has said, and continues to say, things that would seem to incriminate him.
But I think the reader’s sense of Dimitri is similar to that expressed by Grushenka: “What he has just said, you must believe! I know him: when he babbles, he babbles, whether it’s for fun or out of stubbornness, but if it’s something against his conscience, he will never deceive you. He will speak the truth directly, you must believe that!” (Book IV, Chapter 8.)
Also there is the matter of the open gate and the open door.
Another interesting description (assessment) of Dmitri’s character is in the words of Nikolai Parfenovich: “… all of us are prepared to recognize you as a young man who is noble in principle, though one, alas, carried away by certain passions to an inordinate degree…” (IV, 9.)
This is the way Dmitri is thought of by the people in his community. This is the character that Dostoevsky has so masterfully created—though of course the question of Dmitri’s guilt (which is implied in Nikolai Parfenovich’s assessment) is yet to be determined.
Dostoevsky has constructed an extraordinarily complicated situation here. Much of the groundwork has already been laid and events and conversations from earlier parts of the novel will come into play as the dramatically-charged plot unfolds.

ILYUSHA AND HIS FAMILY
Dostoevsky has such deep sympathy for the poor and afflicted, such a deep understanding of their suffering.

David wrote: "At this point (the end of Book IX) I think the reader believes that Dmitri is innocent. Among other things, the reader has been following the narrative of Dmitri’s activities and the murder of his ..."

Great summation, David. The claims expressed by Grushenka about Mitya's character definitely reflects (in my case anyway) the reader's opinion too. Mitya is a person of reckless words but he knows the importance of human life and won't stoop so low to murder his own father no matter how strained their relationship is.

Dmtitri, slave whodunnit?