Your found by authorities with blood on your hands and accused of murder. Your apprehended and thrown in locked cell. You don't know what the commotion is about and to make matters worse your deaf and mute, you can't communicate with anyone. This is the tragic story of the life and troubled times of Donald Lang. A deaf loading dock worker from Chicago who frequented neighborhood bars and dens of iniquity with his earnings. One faithful night Donald walked off with a prostitute. Moments Later Donald was found by police in an alley over the dead prostitute's body. A deaf mute but not like most with his misfortune. Donald was born deaf and at the critical age of six was about to embark on a school for the deaf to learn how to sign, lip reading, read and write to communicate with the outside world.Due to untimely circumstances, Donald's parents split up and with financial burdens were unable to send the boy to the deaf school rendering him illiterate,irresponsible and over protective leaving him unprepared in life and in this case murder. Unable to stand trial because of an earlier supreme court decision that a defendant must understand the charges against him and have the ability to aid his attorney in his own defense, poor Donald lacked the skills to even form a simple sentence. Enter Deaf Attorney from the State of Illinois, Lowell Myers An extraordinary individual highly educated with numerous credentials. A Masters in Business Administration, B.A in accounting, C.P.A. and a Law Degree.Mr. Myers being a tax attorney and CPA was a ground breaking advocate for the hearing impaired in the State of Illinois. Getting legislation passed for the deaf in fraudulent business contracts and phony real estates deals manifesting into law that an interpreter be present when signing any contract involving a deaf person. Also Myers lobbied for the Deaf to obtain Drivers licence in the State of Illinois emphasizing that a deaf driver has a deeper concentration at the wheel and does not get distracted. With Donald Lang in Jail, Lowell Myers fought for his right for due process. It took a few years but a trial was finally held. This challenging made-for-TV movie gives us an unprecedented look at a person who can't fend for himself. LeVar Burton as the frustrated Lang, makes great use of pantomime throughout with his physical gestures borrowed from his role as the captured slave Kunta Kinte in the famous "Roots" series. Personally I feel that this was Paul Sorvino's finest role and I've seen quite a bit of his work. The concentration of his fractured speech emulates a deaf person's voice perfectly and consistently through out the movie. Brian Dennehy as Lang's boss does a fine job in a supporting role. I watched and most importantly learned about two separate individuals both branded with deafness. Guilty or innocent? I learned a great deal from this movie. Other movies like Amistad and Johnny Belinda also feature court scenes with persons who could not defend themselves due to hearing loss or language barriers.

I saw this movie at a very young age and was very moved. I never saw anything hostile about Donny. Sure, it was just a movie, but no one that he encountered, even white, detected any mean streak. While I have deep sympathy for both Earline and Ernestine's family's, If you have not lived the criminal LIFE, such as prostitution you don't exactly know what these women were willing to do to get money. Then, you have someone that cannot communicate at all, other than to indicate what I am willing to pay you and what I want from you. If, perhaps they were not accepting of what was being offered, and demanded more than could be understood, he very well could be a murderer. But, that was the life they chose, for whatever reason. It's like trying to communicate to a child or an animal. DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!!! His communication skills were very limited..... Very limited........ The problem may have been that his family denied teaching him skills. MAYBE, he didn't even know that killing is wrong....Black or White and deaf & dumb, what more could society do????????

Obituary for Lowell Jack MyersLowell J. Myers, 76: Deaf Lawyer and Advocate for Deaf PeopleLowell J. Myers, who lost his hearing at a young age but found in himself a strong, unwavering voice as a champion for the deaf , the bullied and the underdog, even arguing 17 cases before the Illinois Supreme Court, died Nov. 7, 2006 of a brain aneurysm. He was 76.Mr. Myers was born in Los Angeles in 1930 to deaf parents and educated in Chicago. He had some hearing until age 10, when he, too, became deaf. That setback, and the adversity faced by his deaf parents, fueled a two-fisted determination to succeed, that resulted in him attending both Roosevelt University (BA) and the University of Chicago (MA) at the same time in order to receive his education.After graduating with college degrees from two universities simultaneously, he applied to the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. But the dean refused to admit him, saying he feared Mr. Myers, as a deaf person, would not be able to keep up, much less graduate. Were Mr. Myers able to do so, the dean suggested, he would not be able to pass the Illinois Bar Exam, or, if that obstacle was overcome, to practice law in a courtroom.The dean relented to allow Mr. Myers to attend the law school for one semester - as a trial period. In a foreshadowing of what was to come, Mr. Myers did well at this trial; he went on to graduate second in his class of 80 students, the first deaf student to graduate from the school and one of the first to graduate from law school in the country.Mr. Myers was also a CPA and worked in the tax law department with Sears, Roebuck & Co. for 30 years, but it was his compassionate work outside of this arena that earned him acclaim.In his most famous case, he defended a deaf man accused of murder who did not know sign language and could not communicate with anyone. A book about the case, Dummy, was published by the "Book of the Month Club," selling more than 100,000 copies. It was later turned into a TV movie, starring actor LeVar Burton as the deaf defendant.But it was not only deaf and hard of hearing people that Mr. Myers became an advocate for. He also viewed himself as a voice of reason in defense of those he felt were being bullied or taken advantage of. He successfully sued the Chicago Police Department for the shootings of deaf people, and his efforts resulted in the department instituting training to help officers more effectively work with the deaf.He argued cases before the Illinois Supreme Court 17 times - and never lost! In one of those cases, he represented a group of taxpayers who had been overcharged by the government, and his pleas were so impassioned and his work so extensive in the case, the justices later awarded him legal fees of $90,000, nine times the $10,000 fee he requested.Mr. Myers used his influence as a legal advocate for the deaf community to write laws to help deaf people that are still being used throughout the United States. His book, The Law and the Deaf, also became a model used by others in foreign countries. A second book detailed how to handle legal cases of police brutality. He also wrote and self-published a student version of The Law and the Deaf that was widely used in high schools for the deaf. The Illinois State Bar Association honored him in 2006 as a "Senior Counselor" for 50 years of service to the profession.Recently, Mr. Myers moved from Chicago to Washington, D.C. to be closer to his daughter, Lynda Rae Myers, a deaf social worker, and his grand-daughter, Ariana Myers (deaf), of Takoma Park, MD. In addition to them, he is also survived by his son, Nathan Benjamin Myers of Chicago, who followed his father into law; and two sisters, Jean Markin and Dorothy Doyle of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I knew Donald Lang between the two killings. He was kind, bright, very strong and hard working. He had ape like qualities that Lavar Burton could not emulate, nor should he have tried.Lang was always being victimized by pimps, whores and scumbags wandering the ghetto. Lang had a sense of honor, justice and compassion that his tormentors did not have.I believe he was a lot smarter than most people thought and could understand volumes. He communicated with me by grunts and pointing. I could swear he could understand what I was saying to him.The only time anyone cared to teach him sign language and communication skills was to try him for murder. That never happened. I don't know where Lang is today but I know he's not in the Illinois prison system.He only needed a better understanding of how to deal with the evil people in the world. I really think that he felt that killing people who would rob him was okay. His world was truly a jungle and the laws of the jungle applied to him.Lowell Myers was a fine man. Sorvino did not look like him but captured all of his humanity in the film. Someday I'd like to talk to him about this film. I had a chat with Brian Dennehy who played Lang's boss earlier in his career. It's a great story and should be released on DVD someday. A jail guard from the Cook County jail named Cheserleigh played himself in the film. He too knew Lang