Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 18

Thread: CNN partners with Gibney, Redford for “Death Row Stories”

  1. #1
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217

    CNN partners with Gibney, Redford for “Death Row Stories”

    U.S. cable network CNN is to premiere an eight-part factual series entitled Death Row Stories, coproduced by Sundance Productions and Jigsaw Productions, in March.

    Announced during the winter Television Critics’ Association (TCA) tour, Death Row Stories will focus on capital murder cases, and is narrated by actor Susan Sarandon.

    It will be exec produced by Sundance Productions co-founders Robert Redford and Laura Michalchyshyn, and Jigsaw Productions execs Alex Gibney, Dave Snyder, Stacey Offman and Brad Herbert.

    Death Row Stories debuts on March 9, with its first episode will focus on Edward Lee Elmore, who was charged with the murder of a wealthy woman in 1982.

    The news marks a continued collaborations between the network and both production companies, with CNN and Sundance Productions partnering on Chicagoland, and the network working with Jigsaw on an as-yet-undisclosed feature-length movie via CNN Films.

    “We are thrilled to collaborate with this award-winning team of filmmakers on such a powerful and thought-provoking series – and to bring a second extraordinary series from the Sundance Productions team to CNN,” said CNN president Jeff Zucker at the TCAs.

    “This series is about the search for justice and truth – we are pleased to be working with Alex Gibney to tell these important stories and give a voice to these cases,” added Redford.

    Read more: http://realscreen.com/2014/01/13/cnn...#ixzz2qIWiFut7
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  2. #2
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    Heidi thanks for posting this. I wonder if it will be as good as the Werner Herzog series about death row inmates?

  3. #3
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    I expect it to be biased.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  4. #4
    Banned TheKindExecutioner's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Missouri
    Posts
    1,277
    Thanks for posting.

  5. #5
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Death Row Stories on CNN‎

    www.cnn.com/DeathRowStories
    Watch the CNN Original Series from Alex Gibney, Tonight at 9 ET/PT!
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  6. #6
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    If anyone is interested in having a live chat tonight during the show tonight let me know and I will post a chat notice.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  7. #7
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    OPINION: I was on death row, and I was innocent

    Editor's note: Kirk Bloodsworth is the director of advocacy for Witness to Innocence, a national organization of death row survivors and their loved ones.

    Watch "Death Row Stories," a CNN original series, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Sunday. Join the conversation: Follow us at facebook.com/cnn or Twitter @CNNorigSeries using #DeathRowStories.


    (CNN) -- Edward Lee Elmore's story, which is the focus of the first episode of CNN's documentary series, "Death Row Stories," shows that the capital punishment system does not always get it right. Like Edward, I know this first-hand.

    I was the first person in the United States to be exonerated from death row because of DNA testing.

    In 1984, I was 23 years old, newly married and living in Cambridge, Maryland. I had just served four years in the Marine Corps. I had never been arrested. This all changed on August 9, 1984, when the police knocked on my door at 3 a.m. and arrested me for the murder of 9-year-old Dawn Hamilton.

    In a matter of days I became the most hated man in Maryland.

    On July 25, 1984, Dawn was raped and murdered in Baltimore County. A man approached Dawn and offered to help her find her friend in their game of hide-and-seek. Her body was found in the park later that afternoon.

    The police were eager to find the girl's killer and ease the community's fear. Despite the fact that I did not match witnesses' descriptions of the man who approached Dawn, an anonymous caller suggested my name to the Cambridge Police Department.

    There was no physical evidence against me. During the trial, I was convicted primarily on the testimony of five witnesses who were later shown to be terribly mistaken. It took the jury less than three hours to convict me. When they announced my death sentence, the courtroom erupted in applause.

    Life at the Maryland State Penitentiary can only be described as Hell on Earth. I still have nightmares about it. My cell was directly under the gas chamber. The guards thought it was funny to remind me of that fact. They would describe the entire procedure in detail and laugh at my fate. Fortunately, a second trial reduced my punishment to back-to-back life sentences.

    I fought to stay safe at the penitentiary and spent long days in the prison library. At the time of my first trial, DNA testing was not a well-understood concept in criminal law. In 1992, I came across a book about DNA testing used to solve murders in England. My attorney, Bob Morin, submitted a request for the evidence in my case to be tested.

    The prosecutor almost brought my innocence claim to a halt when she sent a letter with a devastating message: The biological material in my case was inadvertently destroyed. Miraculously, the judge from my second trial had decided to keep some of the physical evidence and store it in his chambers.

    One day in 1993 I received a phone call from my attorney. The stain lifted from the victim's underpants did not match my DNA. The DNA told the truth: I was not guilty of this crime. Unfortunately, it would take 10 more years for Dawn's true killer to be identified.

    On June 28, 1993, I walked out of the Maryland State Penitentiary a free man. My re-entry into society was not easy. When I returned to Cambridge, I had trouble getting a job. I was harassed by my neighbors. The State of Maryland paid me $300,000 for lost income during the time I was wrongfully imprisoned, but I lost so much more than money in those eight years.

    During my 21 years of freedom, I have become one of many exonerees who, with the help of advocacy organizations like Witness to Innocence, travel around the world to share our cautionary tales.

    Even people acting in good faith can make serious mistakes. Witness misidentification is one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions in the United States. Since 1989, DNA evidence has been used to exonerate more than 300 individuals in capital and non-capital cases. Approximately 75% of these cases involved inaccurate or faulty witness identification.

    I am living proof that America's system of capital punishment is broken beyond repair.

    More and more people are realizing this. In a 2013 Gallup poll, support for the death penalty dropped to 60%, the lowest level in 40 years. Maryland abolished the death penalty in 2013, the sixth state in six years to do so. Concerns about innocence, unfairness and other issues have led to a dramatic decline in death sentences and executions since the 1990s, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

    The death penalty is fading away, but in my view, the end of capital punishment in the United States cannot come quickly enough.

    I am not here because the system worked. I am here -- like Edward Lee Elmore is still here -- because of a series of miracles. Not every person wrongfully convicted of a capital crime is as lucky.

    http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/07/opinio...death-penalty/
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  8. #8
    Banned TheKindExecutioner's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Missouri
    Posts
    1,277
    Quote Originally Posted by Heidi View Post
    I expect it to be biased.
    Why doesn't CNN mention that 98% (if not 99%) of the vicious thugs on DR are indeed GUILTY?

    Just because innocent men have been sent to jail doesn't mean we get rid of jails! In the same manner we don't get rid of death row just because a few people have been exonerated!

  9. #9
    nnrc
    Guest
    I watched this show last night, Edward Lee Elmore's story on his prosecution. It was mind blowing to me how bad this case was investigated, the coroner based the time of death of the victim not on science but based it on when this defendant did not have an alibi. The police also alleged that they had pubic hairs from an African American but never sent them out to be tested. When the appellate attorney found this out years later, they were sent out and non were the defendants'. There were numerous mistakes and set ups but I don't want to go on. This was truly an injustice, this poor man spent almost 30 years of his life on death row for a crime he did not commit. For the record, I am very pro DP, however, these type of cases where they just want to place the blame on anyone in the name of justice, are concerning to me.
    Last edited by nnrc; 03-10-2014 at 03:18 PM.

  10. #10
    Banned TheKindExecutioner's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Missouri
    Posts
    1,277
    What if he was sentenced to LWOP? You wouldn't advocate getting rid of jails if he spent 30 years in jail when he shouldn't have right?

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •