Similar to Ava DuVernay's When They See Us, Netflix's latest true-crime project, The Innocence Files, unravels the questionable methodologies and emotional fallouts behind wrongful convictions. The first two episodes of the docuseries cast serious doubt on how forensic dentistry was applied to two shockingly similar cases: the convictions of Levon Brooks and Kennedy Brewer. Both men were eventually exonerated - here's what you need to know about what happened to them and where they are today.
Both men spent over a decade behind bars for the rapes and murders of young girls in Noxubee County, Mississippi. In 1992, Brooks received a sentence to life for the death of Courtney Smith, his ex-girlfriend's daughter. In 1995, Brewer was put on death row for the murder of Christine Jackson, his girlfriend's daughter. The cases shared uncanny correlations - both victims were 3-year-old African-American girls who were kidnapped and sexually assaulted in the middle of the night,...
Both men spent over a decade behind bars for the rapes and murders of young girls in Noxubee County, Mississippi. In 1992, Brooks received a sentence to life for the death of Courtney Smith, his ex-girlfriend's daughter. In 1995, Brewer was put on death row for the murder of Christine Jackson, his girlfriend's daughter. The cases shared uncanny correlations - both victims were 3-year-old African-American girls who were kidnapped and sexually assaulted in the middle of the night,...
- 4/18/2020
- by Stacey Nguyen
- Popsugar.com
Netflix’s “The Innocence Files” chronicles eight stories of wrongful convictions, and directors and executive producers Alex Gibney, Liz Garbus and Roger Ross Williams said they faced their fair share of challenges getting access to people necessary to tell the stories.
“Access was often a problem, particularly the police,” Gibney told TheWrap. “But the big issue for me, at least on the film that I directed, was the fact that I didn’t know I was going to turn out.”
Gibney directed the episodes about Chester Hollman III, who was wrongfully convicted of robbing and murdering a man in Philadelphia in 1991. Gibney started production on his episodes in December 2018, but Hollman was only exonerated of the crime in 2019. Gibney had no idea of what the outcome of Hollman’s case would be when they first started filming.
Also Read: When You've Served 20 Years in Prison for a Crime You Didn't Commit,...
“Access was often a problem, particularly the police,” Gibney told TheWrap. “But the big issue for me, at least on the film that I directed, was the fact that I didn’t know I was going to turn out.”
Gibney directed the episodes about Chester Hollman III, who was wrongfully convicted of robbing and murdering a man in Philadelphia in 1991. Gibney started production on his episodes in December 2018, but Hollman was only exonerated of the crime in 2019. Gibney had no idea of what the outcome of Hollman’s case would be when they first started filming.
Also Read: When You've Served 20 Years in Prison for a Crime You Didn't Commit,...
- 4/15/2020
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Wrap
This The Innocence Files review contains no spoilers.
The Innocence Files opens with attorney Peter Neufeld explaining how The Innocence Project gets thousands of letters pleading for an attempt at new pleas. The “court of last resort” has exonerated nearly 200 wrongfully convicted prisoners since it was founded in 1992. The Innocence Project uses DNA to free the wrongfully-convicted and pushes for stronger science in the criminal justice system.
The goal of the project sets this apart from Netflix’s other justice projects, like Making a Murderer, The Keepers and Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist. While the project is integral to the telling, it is the soul of the story, the documentary focuses on the cases. The episodes present the cases in three phases. After the crime itself is established, they sift through The Evidence, The Witness and The Prosecution. Then they tear apart what is fundamentally wrong in each phase.
The Innocence Files opens with attorney Peter Neufeld explaining how The Innocence Project gets thousands of letters pleading for an attempt at new pleas. The “court of last resort” has exonerated nearly 200 wrongfully convicted prisoners since it was founded in 1992. The Innocence Project uses DNA to free the wrongfully-convicted and pushes for stronger science in the criminal justice system.
The goal of the project sets this apart from Netflix’s other justice projects, like Making a Murderer, The Keepers and Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist. While the project is integral to the telling, it is the soul of the story, the documentary focuses on the cases. The episodes present the cases in three phases. After the crime itself is established, they sift through The Evidence, The Witness and The Prosecution. Then they tear apart what is fundamentally wrong in each phase.
- 4/15/2020
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Thirty years ago, Levon Brooks was accused of sexually assaulting and murdering a three-year old girl in Mississippi. Despite having an alibi, he was sentenced to life in prison based on bite mark analysis. A few months, later a second young girl was raped and murdered and Kennedy Brewer, the boyfriend of the victim’s mother was arrested and sentenced death for the crime, based on similar bite mark analysis.
Brewer subsequently wrote to The Innocence Project, which was able to get the pair exonerated and freed after having DNA evidence at the crime scene tested.
These cases form the first three episodes of Netflix’s The Innocence Files and were directed by American Jail director Roger Ross Williams,...
Brewer subsequently wrote to The Innocence Project, which was able to get the pair exonerated and freed after having DNA evidence at the crime scene tested.
These cases form the first three episodes of Netflix’s The Innocence Files and were directed by American Jail director Roger Ross Williams,...
- 4/14/2020
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
“I think the best thing that a lawyer can do with their license is get an innocent guy out of prison,” lawyer Ellen Eggers says in the trailer for Netflix’s The Innocence Files, a new docuseries focused on just that: the exoneration of the wrongfully imprisoned.
Executive-produced and directed by Academy Award nominee Liz Garbus (What Happened, Miss Simone?), Academy Award winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) and Academy Award winner Roger Ross Williams (Music by Prudence) — with episodes also directed by Academy Award nominee Jed Rothstein...
Executive-produced and directed by Academy Award nominee Liz Garbus (What Happened, Miss Simone?), Academy Award winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) and Academy Award winner Roger Ross Williams (Music by Prudence) — with episodes also directed by Academy Award nominee Jed Rothstein...
- 4/2/2020
- by Brenna Ehrlich
- Rollingstone.com
Netflix has ordered a docuseries titled “The Innocence Files,” Variety has learned exclusively.
The hour-long episodes detail the personal stories behind eight cases of wrongful conviction that the Innocence Project and organizations within the Innocence Network have worked to highlight and overturn. The series is broken down into three parts — The Evidence, The Witness, and The Prosecution. The subjects of the series will be Chester Hollman III, Kenneth Wyniemko, Alfred Dewayne Brown, Thomas Haynesworth, Franky Carrillo, Levon Brooks, Kennedy Brewer, and Keith Harward.
The entire nine-episode season will debut on Netflix on April 15.
“We are thrilled to be part of the groundbreaking Netflix series, ‘The Innocence Files,'” said Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck, Innocence Project co-founders and special counsel of the Innocence Project. “This is truly important television. Each episode reveals–step by step–how the American criminal justice system gets it wrong. These stories feature people whose freedom...
The hour-long episodes detail the personal stories behind eight cases of wrongful conviction that the Innocence Project and organizations within the Innocence Network have worked to highlight and overturn. The series is broken down into three parts — The Evidence, The Witness, and The Prosecution. The subjects of the series will be Chester Hollman III, Kenneth Wyniemko, Alfred Dewayne Brown, Thomas Haynesworth, Franky Carrillo, Levon Brooks, Kennedy Brewer, and Keith Harward.
The entire nine-episode season will debut on Netflix on April 15.
“We are thrilled to be part of the groundbreaking Netflix series, ‘The Innocence Files,'” said Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck, Innocence Project co-founders and special counsel of the Innocence Project. “This is truly important television. Each episode reveals–step by step–how the American criminal justice system gets it wrong. These stories feature people whose freedom...
- 3/9/2020
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.