AFTER INNOCENCE, 2005, United States, 95 min.
Language(s): English Genre: Documentary
Release Data: February 2007 (US Only)
Selected Recognitions: Won Special Jury Prize and Nominated for Grand Jury Prize, Sundance, 2005; Audience Award, Boston, 2005; Women in Cinema Award (Jessica Sanders, Director), Seattle, 2005
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Director(s): Jessica Sanders
What It's About: A devastating documentary that examines the cases of seven men wrongly convicted of murder and rape, but exonerated many years later by the admission of DNA evidence into the courts. The filmmaker follows the men through the difficulties they encounter in overturning their convictions, their release and their ensuing struggles to transition back into society.
What to Look For: The individual stories and circumstances and the roadblocks put up in their way by justice officials, who are at pains to maintain the original convictions -- the state, after all, does not want to admit that it was wrong. In fact, the pursuit of justice in many of these cases often seems secondary to the drama of competing lawyers and the desire of prosecutors to win at all costs, not to mention protecting their reputations. In perhaps the most moving case, the state opposed release because the mans DNA tests were taken five years before the law provided for such testing. The state opposed his motions on procedural grounds for three years and let him know that they would be against his release from prison even if he were found innocent!
Another aspect to watch for is the difficulties the men have when they try to re-enter society. One man served 10 1/2 years for a rape he did not commit. After eight years of freedom he has still not been able to find full-time employment and his criminal record has not been expunged. I the case of Scott Hornoff, a former Rhode Island police officer who served six and a half years of a life sentence for first-degree murder, the court upheld his appeal to win back his job and his back pay but the police department immediately appealed the decision. He is now a staunch advocate for the innocent. The film also addresses the question of compensation after wrongful imprisonment. Unlike paroled prisoners, who have a network of social services to help them re-enter society, the exonerated have little guidance or support.
Why It Matters: This film confirms many of our worst fears about the American criminal-justice system. Imagine how you would feel if the best years possibly even decades of your life had been lost to a wrongful conviction. Especially when research now points to mistaken identity as the most common factor leading to a wrongful conviction even the most positive of eye-witnesses can be wrong. The physical and psychological toll on a person unjustly imprisoned for decades is staggering. But here, the bitterness, despair and even rage that you might expect is tempered by a sense of gratitude resulting from the seemingly miraculous. This is a film you should not miss.
Notes: This film was made in collaboration with the Innocence Project, a non-profit legal clinic founded by two lawyers at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in Manhattan. Since its founding in 1992, the Project has expanded into the Innocence Network, a growing nationwide group of law schools, journalism schools and public defender's offices.
For more information, go to the Innocence Project website at: www.innocenceproject.org.
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