The Exonerated

Infobox Film
name = The Exonerated


imdb_id = 0421057
writer = Erik Jensen
Jessica Blank
starring = David Brown Jr.
Brian Dennehy
Danny Glover
Delroy Lindo
Aidan Quinn
Susan Sarandon
director = Bob Balaban
producer = Greg Schultz
Steven Tabakin
Karen Wolfe
distributor = CourtTV
released = January 27, 2005
runtime = 95 min.
language = English
music = David Robbins
awards =
budget =

"The Exonerated" is a film that dramatizes the stories of six people who had been wrongfully convicted of murder, but were later exonerated and freed after varying years of imprisonment, where many were subjected to further brutality and degradation. It was based on a play of the same name written by Erik Jensen and Jessica Blank and first aired on the CourtTV cable television network on January 27, 2005.

Actors played the roles of the five men and one woman. The script was based on the experiences of the exonerees as well as court records and media accounts. After a successful national tour, a film version directed by Bob Balaban was produced by Radical Media and sold to TimeWarner, Inc., the parent company of CourtTV.

Blank, who is married to Jensen, got the idea for the play when she moved from Minneapolis, Minnesota to New York City. She and Jensen attended a conference about the death penalty and listened to stories about wrongful convictions and confessions gained via torture, threats and deception. The couple spent the summer of 2000 interviewing exonerees throughout the United States and adapted the stories of six people into a script.

The play was first presented in New York City; the final performance was in Minneapolis in 2002.

For their efforts, Jensen and Blank received the Champion of Justice Award from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. [http://www.nacdl.org/public.nsf/freeform/Awards?OpenDocument&ExpandSection=5#_Section5]

The exonerated

* Kerry Max Cook: Convicted of murdering a neighbor in Texas in 1977; exonerated in 1997. [http://www.texnews.com/texas97/cook111297.html]
* Gary Gauger: Convicted of murdering his mother and father in Illinois in 1993; exonerated in 1996. [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/jan-june00/deathpenalty_2-4.html]
* Robert Earl Hayes: Black Florida racetrack worker convicted of murdering a white woman in 1990; exonerated in 1997. [http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/exonerations/Hayes_FL.htm]
* Sonia "Sunny" Jacobs: Convicted, along with common law husband, Jesse Tafero, and his friend, Walter Rhodes, of murdering a Florida state trooper and a visiting Canadian officer in 1976; plead no contest and was released in 1992. [http://www.truthinjustice.org/soniajacobs.htm] Tafero was executed in 1990.
* David Keaton: Convicted of murdering a Florida police officer in 1971; exonerated in 1973. [http://www.deadlinethemovie.com/characters/david_keaton.php]
* Delbert Tibbs: Black Florida man convicted of murdering a white man and raping his girlfriend in 1974; exonerated in 1976. He was eventually freed in 1979 after serving time for an unrelated charge. [http://itrs.scu.edu/bfl/delbert.html]

Cast

* David Brown, Jr. as Robert Earl Hayes
* Brian Dennehy as Gary Gaugher
* Danny Glover as David Keaton
* Delroy Lindo as Delbert Tibbs
* Aidan Quinn as Kerry Max Cook
* Susan Sarandon as Sonia "Sunny" Jacobs

Trivia

* David Brown, Jr. was the only member of the cast to have appeared in the stage version.
* Aidan Quinn reprised his role as Kerry Max Cook in the "The Exonerated's" staging at the Dublin Theatre Festival in Dublin, Ireland in October, 2006 as well as the stage version in New York City.
* David Soul took over the role of Gary Gaugher for several performances in Dublin, Ireland in October, 2006.

External links

* [http://www.courttv.com/movie/ Official website for "The Exonerated" movie]
* [http://www1.umn.edu/umnnews/Feature_Stories/The_Exonerated_critically_acclaimed_play_by_U_alum_comes_to_Minneapolis-407aebe47809e.html Story about Erik Jensen and Jessica Blank from University of Minnesota website]
* [http://www.exonerated.org/ Life After Exoneration Program]
* [http://www.delberttibbs.com/ Delbert Tibb's website]
* [http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/ Death Penalty Information Center]
* [http://www.innocenceproject.org/ The Innocence Project]
* [http://odeo.com/audio/17623703/view Erik Jensen and Jessica Blank audio interview]
* [http://www.maliciousprosecution.com/