Fighting for Life in the Death-Belt

In the Southeast, home to 90% of the executions in the U.S., attorney Stephen Bright and his colleagues at the Southern Center for Human Rights have represented death row inmates for over 20 years. Narrated by Ani DiFranco, Fighting for Life in the Death-Belt follows the efforts of Bright and his legal team to save the lives of two men. One case ends quickly and favorably with the prisoner's sentence commuted to life without parole. The other, however, goes through a rollercoaster ride of appeals, with Bright arguing that his client received an unfair trial. The prisoner, Wallace Fugate, was sentenced to death for shooting and killing his ex-wife during a domestic dispute (though Fugate admits that he pulled the trigger, he maintains that it was accidental). After his court-appointed lawyer failed to present evidence supporting his claim, the jury quickly decided his fate. Interwoven are interviews with Bright, his colleagues, and legal scholars (such as Charles Ogletree from the Harvard Law School), as well as footage of Bright testifying before Congress, all of which connect the drama of Fugate's story to the larger capital punishment issues. Filmmakers Jeff Marks and Adam Elend's documentary will make viewers question whether the guilty deserve death sentences that are handed down not for terrible crimes but for shoddy legal representation. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (J. Wadland)