14 Days In May

[AKIRA]

I'm putting this documentary here and not in the Films or Video forums because this place gets the most traffic and I want the most amount of people to see this documentary.

I know the mods will probably move it anyway but I'll go ahead and post it.

Fourteen Days in May is a documentary directed by Paul Hamann. The program recounts the final days before the execution of Edward Earl Johnson, an American prisoner convicted of rape and murder. Johnson protested his innocence and claimed that his confession had been made under duress. He was executed in Mississippi’s gas chamber on May 20, 1987.

The documentary crew, given access to the prison warden, guards and chaplain and to Johnson and his family, filmed the last days of Johnson’s life in detail. The documentary argues against the death penalty and maintains that capital punishment is disproportionately applied to African-Americans convicted of crimes against whites. The program features attorney Clive Stafford Smith, a noted advocate against capital punishment.

Fourteen Days in May won a British Film Institute Grierson Award and a top prize at the Festival dei Populi. It has been shown in many countries but has only appeared in an abbreviated form in the United States, on HBO. Hamann disowned this shortened version.

It was in direct response to this documentary that the Lifelines organization was set up, to organize pen pals for death row prisoners.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GggQrGAsl0c&feature=player_embedded

This documentary nearly brought me to tears. I cannot imagine going through that. I don't know if the laws in Mississippi are the same now as they were back then but I just can't believe how the higher ups in the judicial system (and corrupt cops) can sleep at night.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Mississippi

5char

 

[CyberPitz]

I don't care what you all say, but clip that is shown before you hit play with the black dude is making me lol way too hard.

 

[ShadowArmy]

If it weren't such an expensive process, and it were up to me, EVERYBODY who committed rape or murder would be executed. Doesn't matter if you're white/black, rich/poor, male/female.

Sorry, but I'm not wasting an hour of my life for this.

 

[Vegeta897]

If it weren't such an expensive process, and it were up to me, EVERYBODY who committed rape or murder would be executed. Doesn't matter if you're white/black, rich/poor, male/female.

What about the people who are actually innocent?

 

[AKIRA]

If it weren't such an expensive process, and it were up to me, EVERYBODY who committed rape or murder would be executed. Doesn't matter if you're white/black, rich/poor, male/female.

Sorry, but I'm not wasting an hour of my life for this.

Going your way then, the cops and judges who rejected his innocence appeals should also be put to death since they killed an innocent human. You just can't win against corrupt cops and the terrible judicial system.

 

[L3N!N]

To Kill A Mockingbird, anyone?

 

[Sheepo]

What about the people who are actually innocent?

Yeah, even it takes a whole lot of qualifications before the death penalty even becomes practically worthwhile.

 

[JUL3]

I don't believe anyone has the right to end another's life. Lifetime in prison for the most heinous of crimes, but nothing more.

But hey, it's America. Land of the free.

 

[Ravioli]

I dont understand the sentence he got. Ive heard of many rapists and murderers who got put in jail for 5-10 years only :S

 

[Danimal]

He's black. Victim was white.

Yeah.

 

[JUL3]

^ America. Where the white are free & they pretend the black are too.

 

[Vegeta897]

I'm sorry what was that?

I couldn't hear you over your illegal drawings.

 

[Tyguy]

If it weren't such an expensive process, and it were up to me, EVERYBODY who committed rape or murder would be executed. Doesn't matter if you're white/black, rich/poor, male/female.

Sorry, but I'm not wasting an hour of my life for this.

Texas called, they want their logic back.