This is a very special trial movie, focussing on racial prejudice in the North Carolina "Justice" System in the 1980's. Darryl Hunt was accused of a crime that he did not commit. The black community rallied behind Darryl, supplying money for his defence and giving moral support. The NorthCarolina "Justice" System is shown as incompetent, uncaring and corrupt.Darryl Hunt is a very honourable man. He accepted that police can make mistakes, because he is a forgiving person. He made an honourable decision, which made it more difficult for him, because he believed that it was the right thing to do. I could see no bitterness in Darryl, although there must have been times when he was very tempted.Eventually the truth started to become more widely known and Darryl had broader support, including the white community. Against all odds, he finally gained his freedom. I was very inspired by those who supported Darry and by Darryl himself. He is a man I would like to know personally.

This film is a sweeping, comprehensive and harrowing account of one man's nightmarish journey through a biased, racist and inept justice system. If you liked "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" or "The Thin Blue Line," this is a movie for you. However, much of the injustice here, conversely, is racially motivated in nature, and like the aforementioned, heaping with negligence and corruption perpetrated by "the man." Not to be taken lightly at all, dear Darryl spent 20 years of his life in prison on the basis of an erroneous conviction. A 1994 DNA test exonerated him 1o years into his sentence, clearing him of rape and murder, yet, North Carolina's courts didn't want to hear it, and Hunt served another 10 years before finally being released in 2004. Truly horrifying. Why aren't some of these corrupt D.A.'s and policemen behind bars - for they took a life, or the better part of one? Overall, this film is fairly presented, is executed exceptionally well and profoundly powerful. Which begs the question: how many more Darryl Hunts are really out there?

This is a hard film to watch, but I had the honor of watching it at the Sidewalk Festival in Alabama this year and then got the chance to meet Mr. Hunt as well as his attorney and his good friend and supporter Mr. Little.The amazing thing about this story is the way people on the outside worked so hard and held on to hope for so long for this man. In meeting him, it is extraordinary to find someone so soft spoken who has such inner strength to survive in hell for nearly 20 years.Very well crafted film that shows the anguish of the family of the victim and the moments where it seems all hope is gone for Hunt.

At the North Carolina Public Defender's conference, I had the pleasure of watching this film and meeting Mr. Hunt and his attorneys in person. The film is a well articulated synopsis of the various legal and personal challenges faced by Mr. Hunt during his 19 and a half years in a North Carolina prison for a rape and murder which he never committed. As a film watcher, I really enjoyed the linearity and breadth of the narrative as well as the compelling players involved. The movie is able to explore all of the complexities of the legal procedures without getting bogged down or tedious. The filmmakers followed the case for well over a decade, and at many times in the movie the audience sees events as they unfold in real time. Every lost appeal, every new piece of evidence, and key hearings are well documented and the immediacy of the emotions involved really hits home. Mr. Hunt's case attracted dedicated attorneys and colorful and interesting supporters like Larry Little, who invested their heart and soul into his struggles. The movie refuses to over-sentimentalize Mr. Hunt, instead focusing more upon the systematic forces at work in his case. In fact, no over-sentimentalizing has to be done in this movie. Very few people would have accepted their situation with as much grace or courage as Mr. Hunt did and it shows from the few parts of contemporaneous and recorded dialogue we hear from him.As a lawyer, it's a case like this that makes me realize why I sit at the defendant's table. It's idealistic to think that everybody has rights, that at any time a vindictive prosecutor backed by unsympathetic individuals can rob someone of their freedom even in the United States. But it's those very ideals, that conception of rights, that makes criminal defendants worthy of our care and protection.