Murder on a Sunday Morning

Like the Paradise Lost documentaries, this true crime story sets out to expose what seems to be an obvious miscarriage of justice, but while this 2002 Academy Award winner for Best Documentary has a more satisfying outcome, viewers should be prepared--in one tireless lawyer's words--to become "increasingly angry." In May 2000, 65-year-old Mary Ann Stephens, a tourist, was shot to death in Jacksonville, FL. In the space of two hours, Brenton Butler, a 15-year-old African American walking in the area, was arrested, questioned without a lawyer present, and forced into a confession--although there was no evidence linking him to the crime. Butler spent six months in jail before appearing in a trial to which French filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade enjoyed extraordinary access. From depositions to the jury room, we watch the events unfold as they happen, which adds to the suspense and the outrage (especially when the real culprit is caught four months after Butler is acquitted). The anchor of the film is Pat McGuinness, Butler's chain-smoking public defender, who uncovers staggeringly shoddy and questionable investigative work (Butler was seated in the back of the police car when the victim's husband was asked to I.D. him; a vital piece of evidence--the victim's purse--was never dusted for fingerprints). "You've got to punish them for lying," McGuinness says of the officers. While the manipulative musical score is sometimes intrusive, Murder on a Sunday Morning has more drama than a full season of Law & Order. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Lee Benson)