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This documentary certainly deserved it's Oscar. If you haven't watched this then you need to. It's incredibly touching and inspiring. It shows real corruption among the police and how social and media pressure can influence a person.
It follows the defence of the accused in the case of 65 year old Mary Ann Stephens who was purse-snatched at gunpoint and then shot in the face, killing her.
****Possible spoilers from here****
15 year old African American Brenton Butler was accused of the murder and armed robbery of Mary Ann Stephenson, without much evidence to back it up.
When the film first started it made the case seem simple. A black guy committed armed robbery and murdered an innocent white female tourist by shooting her in the face,then confessed. However when i saw Brenton Butler on camera for the first time i found he looked nothing like the character he had been portrayed to be. He looked young, innocent, sad and withdrawn. I kept in mind though that appearances can be deceptive and that just because he looked innocent didn't mean he was.
A subsequent court case followed showing viewers how Brenton became to be arrested in the first place. Mr Stephens, the husband of the murdered women, identified him. A man who had just watched his wife be shot to death, who would have likely been in shock and who wanted justice for his wife.
There was no physical evidence to tie him to the crime, no DNA, no gun, no other witnesses. The police admit they didn't follow up any other leads, look for any other evidence or do much of an investigation. Instead we see how Brenton was forced into signing a statement confessing to shooting Mrs Stephen after being beaten in the woods by a detective.
Huge praise must be given to the defence attorney Pat McGuiness. He not only proved Brenton's innocence to the jury but went on to help solve the case months later when the police failed to do so. The police involved in the case were lazy, unprofessional and failed to do there jobs. Thankfully the true killer was caught a few months after the end of Brenton's trial.
Hopefully films like this one will teach something to those in society that are quick to judge and condemn from only what is portrayed in the media and not from ALL the evidence and facts.
One criticism i had was we didn't hear from the prosecution. It would have been interesting to hear their point of view and why they thought that the evidence proved his guilt, especially beyond reasonable doubt.
score 10/10
xjesseex 8 December 2011
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2529430/ |
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2-12-2019 20:29:53
