Directed by Tony Goldwyn
Kenny and Betty Anne Waters were wild children who ran around their rough neighbourhood getting into all kinds of mischief. They both dropped out of high school and Kenny got a bit of a reputation for himself for being violent. When waitress Katharina Brow was found murdered in 1980, he was questioned by local police and arrested two years later. Despite the lack of concrete evidence, Kenny (Sam Rockwell) was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in 1983.
With no money for lawyers and two small children to care for, Betty Anne (Hilary Swank) put herself through high school, college and finally law school so she could prove her brother’s innocence.
Never intending to actually practice as a lawyer, Betty Anne’s sole motivation for the eighteen year journey to become a barrister was to free her brother. Based on an inspirational true story, Betty Anne also had to comb through all the evidence and trial notes with the help of her friend from law school Abra Rice (Minnie Driver). This moving story is a case of life being stranger than fiction and is also a revelation as to how policing and detective work changed over the space of twenty years. Betty Anne was able to utilise DNA analysis and was helped in her mission by The Innocence Project.
Founded in the United States 1992, by The Innocence Project was created by attorneys Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld. Receiving hundreds of requests a year, it has been able to free many prisoners, including some on Death Row. About 70% of those freed by DNA testing have been from minority populations, which points to serious systematic defects in the legal system.
Lezly Herbert
