The movie “Just Mercy” was released in theaters December 25, 2019 and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. It is based on a true story about a guy who was wrongfully accused of a crime he didn’t commit. This happened in 1988, a black man named Walter McMilian known as Johnny D, was sentenced to death for murdering a white teenage girl in Monroeville, Alabama. Bryan Stevenson, A black lawyer who just graduated from Harvard had gone to Alabama to defend many people who were wrongly accused of crimes they didn’t commit due to lack of evidence. Michael B. Jordan played the lawyer named Bryan Stevenson in the movie and Jamie Foxx played Walter McMillian(Johnny D).
In the Movie “Just Mercy,” it shows how horrible the system was when it came down to African-Americans. In the movie, Bryan Stevenson helps defend poor people who cannot afford proper legal representation. Mr. Stevenson met Jonny D who was on death row for being accused of killing a white teenage girl but he is innocent. When Steveson reviews the evidence in the case, he learns the convict felon Ralph Myers had provided highly contradictory testimony in exchange for a plea deal and lighter sentence in his own trial. Mr. Stevenson realized all the evidence in Johnny D case was false and realized he was innocent and set up by their government. Since Mr. Stevenson had all the evidence to prove Johnny D innocent, he was threatened by two sheriff deputies, who forced him out his car at gunpoint and illegally searched the car. They refused to tell him why he was pulled over, but they had released him. With all that evidence that was found to show Johnny D, he was released from prison.
I found this Movie very interesting because It showed how corrupted the court system was toward black poor people. A white man was the one who killed the white teenage girl and pinning all of the blame on Johnny D. Johnny D knew the system was very messed up and he had lost faith but Mr.Stevenson had believed that he was innocent and went out of his way to find evidence to prove his innocence. During 1988, white Cops were very corrupted and horrible. During the Stevenson investigation, people who were witnesses in the Johnny D case were being arrested so they wouldn’t testify. I believe the justice system is very horrible when it comes to black people because there are still a lot of people in jail that are not guilty and on death row. I am inspired by Bryan Stevenson, a black lawyer helping out many death row prisoners in jail that are wrongly accused.
