A Murder in the Park

This investigative documentary explores an unusual miscarriage of justice. In 1983, two teenagers were shot and killed one night in a park on Chicago's South Side. A handful of witnesses identified the killer as Anthony Porter, a much-feared thug in the community, who was found guilty and sentenced to death. But in 1998, a group of Northwestern University journalism students and their professor, David Protess, reinvestigated Porter's case, and within hours of scheduled execution, Porter's sentence was stayed and he was eventually released as a result of the students' proof that he was innocent of the crime. Moreover, Protess and his team concluded that the real murderer was a man named Alstory Simon, who later confessed and went to prison. Porter went on to file a civil suit against the Chicago detectives who had arrested him, prompting a deeper look into Protess's sloppy tactics, which led to revelations that the journalism group had not actually interviewed any of the original witnesses except one—and that poor man was harassed and intimidated by a private detective retained by Protess, a gumshoe who also went to elaborate lengths to terrify Simon into confessing. Filmmakers Shawn Rech and Brandon Kimber make a compelling case here that Simon was essentially used as human fodder in a bid to try to get the death penalty abolished in Illinois. Recommended. (T. Keogh)