Documentary Style
TopicalMurder on a Sunday Morning
Academy Award winner filmed in real time — before anyone knew the verdict. A riveting courtroom documentary exposing how police coercion and racial bias shape the American justice system.
Year
2001
Type
film
Runtime
111 min
Language
English
Director
Jean-Xavier de Lestrade
Genres
Summary
On May 7, 2000, 65-year-old Mary Ann Stephens was shot in a Jacksonville hotel parking lot in front of her husband. Ninety minutes later, police arrested 15-year-old Brenton Butler - a Black teenager who happened to be walking nearby.
The film team embedded themselves with Butler’s public defense team, filming the entire trial without knowing the outcome. What emerges is a masterclass in American justice - how police coerced a confession from a frightened teenager, how a dedicated public defender dismantled it piece by piece in open court, and how racial bias shapes assumptions from arrest to verdict. The film never editorializes. It doesn’t need to.
A riveting real-time portrait of the American justice system - and what it looks like when it almost fails completely.