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
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
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
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