Would you confess to a crime you did not commit?
‘In the Closed Room’ is a documentary on the vital subject of false confessions.
When it comes to the government’s obligation to turn over all relevant information to the defense in the process of discovery, the question is never whether or not the prosecution leaves material out, but how much they leave out. This was demonstrated again in the recent high profile case of Freddie Gray.
Anyone who still thinks that overzealous, conviction-hungry prosecutors and police do more good than harm should take a look at the case of Michael Morton, a man from Texas who spent 25 years in prison after being wrongful convicted for murdering his wife, Christine, in 1986.
One of the most infuriating aspects of the criminal justice system is that there is virtually no punishment for prosecutors who send innocent people to prison. Government lawyers are almost never held personally accountable for destroying the lives of innocent defendants and their families.