Justice Denied: Trial and Error
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Synopsis
Documentary that explores two cases in which defendants received death penalties and spent many years in prison, but were later acquitted. In October 1967, the seven children of James and Annie Mae Richardson were murdered. James Richardson, a poor African-American farmer living in rural Florida was framed by law enforcement for the murders of his children and sentenced to die. He served 20 years in prison before the efforts of lawyer Mark Lane led to Richardson's acquittal. In another case, Perry Cobb and Darby Williams were accused of a double murder in Chicago in 1978. Both claimed innocence but the two men were sentenced to death. The Illinois Supreme Court heard their appeal, reversed the conviction and ordered a new trial. In the end, a judge acquitted them because he doubted the credibility of the main witness.
