A new TV program featuring
Willie Jerome Manning is scheduled to be broadcast on Sunday June 1 2014 (USA times: 9E/6P). The program is an episode in the Al Jazeera America series,
The System, which sets out to examine the state of the criminal justice system in the USA. The episode that includes Willie,
Flawed Forensics, focuses on the FBI’s faulty hair analysis and testimony. The episode also features a man, also originally convicted of multiple murders, who has been released and is waiting for a retrial.
When interviewed the director, Joe Berlinger, said the series tries to show all sides of an issue. He uses Willie’s case as an example:
“…it’s pretty clear that Willy Manning should have the opportunity for a new trial because the case was botched via FBI forensics handling. On the other hand, we don’t shy away from talking about the fact that he was not a good guy prior to his conviction. That doesn’t mean he should be sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t commit.
In addition, I think we have a very sympathetic portrayal of the family members of the victims in that episode.
Tiffany Miller’s mother, Pam Cole, she is utterly convinced that the guy is still guilty, and we’re not saying whether he’s guilty or not, we’re saying he needs a new trial, but I think there’s a very sympathetic portrait of family members who have come to believe what the police tell them and what prosecutors tell them.”
You can read
a review of the series in the New York Times, and see a trailer for the series
here.
Source:
justice4willie, May 20, 2014
“The System with Joe Berlinger”
Al Jazeera America Presents, a new original series from Academy Award nominated filmmaker Joe Berlinger exploring controversial cases within the criminal justice system. He’ll examine the underbelly and dark corners of the American justice system to investigate troubling cases embodying this all too human drama. Amidst the murky world where alleged miscarriages have taken place he’ll dig for the truth and ask the question, was justice served?
Raising riveting questions about innocence and guilt, there will often be surprises: sometimes the person crying foul is himself lying; sometimes the disgruntled cop is discredited, but then vindicated; and sometimes the system has worked, and justice served. Focusing on any number of layers within the criminal justice system, each episode of the series will explore a controversial case – carried out by or impacting prosecutors, citizens, police officers, and businesses, among others. As we examine each story, we’ll see whether the vaunted system of US justice has triumphed or failed.
