PROJECTS

  • William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe

    A documentary feature about the filmmakers’ father – a radical civil rights lawyer – and their journey to understand some of his more controversial choices. The film premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, screened in over 40 other festivals, was released theatrically in 26 cities, and opened the 2010 season of POV on PBS.

  • Kevin Johnson Clemency Video

    Kevin Johnson is on death row in st. Louis. On July 5, 2005, when he was 19 years old, he murdered Kirkwood police Sgt. William McEntee. Earlier that day Kevin had watched his 13 year old brother die of heart defect, after collapsing on the floor of their grandmother’d house. Kevin was crushed by the death and mistakenly thought the police were responsible. Everyone in the community was shocked by the crime and Kevin’s involvement. Before he shot Sgt. McEntee, no one in Kevin’s life knew him to be a violent person. Kevin has expressed remorse and regret since the day of the crime.

  • Earlene Peterson: Clemency for Danny Lee

    Earlene Peterson asks President Trump to commute the sentence of Daniel Lee, who was convicted of killing Earlene’s daughter, granddaughter and one other.

  • A Broken Promise in Texas: Race, the Death Penalty and the Duane Buck

    Mr. Buck was sentenced to death in Harris County (Houston), Texas, after his trial prosecutor elicited testimony from a psychologist indicating that Mr. Buck was more likely to be dangerous because he is Black.

  • Tyrone Noling: A Case of Innocence

    Tyrone Noling is an innocent man on Ohio’s death row. He has spent more than eighteen years in prison for two murders that he did not commit, despite the fact that: There is absolutely no physical evidence tying him to the murders; all of the principal witnesses against him have recanted their testimony; and recently discovered evidence that was withheld at trial points to credible alternative suspects.

  • Dustin Higgs Clemency Video

    Dustin Higgs was convicted in 2000 of the murder of three Maryland women on federal land in Prince George’s County. Dustin was sentenced to death under the federal system despite the fact that he was an accomplice to the crime and not the trigger man. The trigger man, Willis Mark Haynes, was sentenced to life plus 45 years in prison. Dustin was executed on January 16, 2021.

  • Corey Johnson Clemency Video

    Corey Johnson was a 52-year-old black man with an IQ of 69. Despite the fact that his intellectual disability makes his execution unconstitutional, he was executed on January 14, 2021.

  • Executing the Insane: The Case of Scott Panetti

    Scott Panetti, is a schizophrenic man on death row who did not understand why he was being put to death. This film was produced with the Texas Defender Service and led to a stay of execution.

  • The Norfolk 4: A Miscarriage of Justice

    Four Navy men in Virginia falsely confessed to a rape and murder that they did not commit. After more than 11 years in prison, the men received conditional pardons from the Governor and were released.

  • Hearne, Texas: Scenes from the Drug War

    Short documentary produced with the ACLU of Texas that tell the story of a community engaged in a struggle to clear the names of those swept up in a corrupt drug raid. All of the criminal records of those arrested were subsequently expunged.

  • Darryl Best Clemency Video

    Darryl Best was serving 15 years to life under New York’s Rockefeller Drug Laws. Mr. Best, 49, was convicted after signing for a Federal Express package while at his uncle’s house in the Bronx, repairing the roof. The package contained cocaine and the deliveryman was an undercover officer. The film led to a grant of executive clemency and the release of Mr. Best.

  • Getting Through to the President

    A comedic documentary short in which people on the streets of New York City were invited to use a public telephone to call the White House Comment Line and voice their opinions. Broadcast on WNET and soon to be featured on The Sundance Channel. (Winner, Jury Prize, Black Maria Film Festival and Audience Choice Award, Portland International Short Short Film Festival, 2004).

  • James Allridge Clemency Video

    A short produced for the Texas Defender Service as part of a clemency petition for James Allridge, a man who spent 14 years on death row and was executed in August of 2004.

  • Tulia, Texas: Scenes from the Drug War

    A short documentary about a racist drug sting operation in a small Texas town. Produced with The Drug Policy Alliance and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. Led to the exoneration of 46 people. (Winner, Best Documentary Short, Woodstock Film Festival, 2003).

  • A Pattern of Exclusion: The Trial of Thomas Miller-El

    A documentary short about racial discrimination in jury selection in the trial of Thomas Miller-El, a man sentenced to death in Texas in 1985. Produced with the Texas Defender Service. Helped Mr. Miller-El win a new trial.