Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Rob Doorack (R) on April 01, 2002 at 07:21:31

In Reply to: Re: Murder on a Sunday Morning posted by Victor Khomenko on April 01, 2002 at 05:27:15:

It's a documentary on a murder trial in Jacksonville, Florida in 2000. Just won the Oscar for best documentary. A tourist was killed during a robbery and the Jax cops more or less grabbed the first black person they saw, a 15 year old kid, and stopped looking for anyone else. As part of his "interrogation" a huge detective who was a former college football player (and the son of the Sheriff!) shackled the kid, took him out to a patch of woods, and beat him up. The cops had no real evidence except a dubious ID by the victim's husband who couldn't accurately describe the perp's clothing, and the prosecutors felt that they had to go forward with the poor case to defend the police department's honor. The jury took only 45 minutes to find the kid not guilty, and a year later the police department officially apologized to him. The Jax cops never did find the real shooter, the 15 year -old's defense attorney eventually discovered the real perp's name, and the 3 detectives involved are no longer detectives.

Murder on a Sunday Morning, shot by a French crew, is completely gripping. There's no overt editorializing, just an unblinking camera following the defense team as they prepare and present their case. The falsely accused young man was lucky to have a very sharp defense team, but it makes you wonder how many innocents are in prison today who didn't receive equally competent representation.