Fight for Justice: David & Me is a documentary film which premiered in 2014.
The topic is the criminal justice system in the US with special focus on an African American prisoner who is a victim of a wrongful conviction:
David McCallum served more than twenty-five years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
Here is some basic information about this film:
** Directors: Ray Klonsky and Marc Lamy
** Writers: Ray Klonsky and March Lamy
** Run time: 79 minutes
Several persons appear in this film. Here are the names of the participants:
** Ray Klonsky - filmmaker
** Mary Ellen Belfiore – Ray’s mother
** Ken Klonsky – Ray’s father
** David McCallum – victim of a wrongful conviction
** Ernestine McCallum – David’s mother
** Rubin “Hurricane” Carter (1937-2014) – a professional boxer – victim of a wrongful conviction – a civil rights activist
** Oscar Michelen – a lawyer
** Steve A. Drizin – a legal scholar - Center on Wrongful Conviction – Northwestern University
** Van Padgett – a private investigator
Two persons are named in the title.
Who are they?
** David = David McCallum (prisoner)
** Me = Ray Klonsky (filmmaker)
THE PLOT
In 1985, a young man Nathan Blenner was kidnapped outside his home in Queens, New York. He was abducted and killed. Later his body was found in Aberdeen Park.
According to the local police, this crime was committed by two African American teenagers: David McCallum and Willie Stockey. Both were only 16 years old.
David and Willie were picked up and brought to the local police station. There was no forensic evidence against them, but after a long interrogation, they both signed a confession. When they did this, their fate was sealed.
They were arrested and charged with murder. The case was tried in a court of law. Before the trial, they recanted the confessions. They claimed they were innocent.
There was still no forensic evidence against them. But this fact did not help them. The members of the jury decided to believe the confessions. The two teenagers were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.
In 2001, Willie Stockey died in prison. He had served 16 years for a crime he did not commit. David was still alive.
In 2005, when Ray contacted him, David had served 20 years for a crime he did not commit.
Why did Ray write to David? His father Ken asked him to do this. His father felt that Ray was mixing with the wrong kind of friends. He was afraid of the consequences. But he was not sure how to deal with this. He knew about David and his case and thought David might be the right person to talk to Ray; to make sure Ray would remain an honest person.
Ray and David were very different.
Ray was a young white man living in Canada, while David was an African American man serving time in a prison in New York State.
But in spite of the differences, there was an instant connection and trust between them.
In his letters, David talked about life in prison and about the crime for which he had been convicted.
Reading David’s letters, Ray became convinced that David was innocent, as he claimed.
Having finished high school, Ray decided to go to film school and become a filmmaker. Ray and his friend Marc Lamy decided to make a film about David and his case. They wanted to show that he was innocent and they wanted to secure his release from prison.
It was a long a difficult task. They worked on this project for eight years.
In the film, Ray’s father Ken Klonsky talks about the two confessions which were signed in 1985. If David and Willie had committed this crime together, the confessions should agree with each other. But they do not.
There are contradictions, which is a clear sign that something is wrong. There are good reasons to believe that we are dealing with false confessions, which were actually composed by police officers.
In the film, Steve A. Drizin talks about false confessions. According to this lawyer, a false confession often has the following characteristics:
# 1. There is no new evidence
# 2. There is no forensic evidence against the suspect
# 3. The suspect is a juvenile
# 4. There is physical abuse
# 5. Police officers add false facts in order to confuse and intimidate the suspect
Ray and Marc were able to get some assistance from Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, a former professional boxer, who was highly motivated when he heard about the case, because he himself had been a victim of a wrongful conviction.
In the film, we see how he joins the campaign. Sadly, he suffered from poor health. He had cancer. His poor health was killing him. Shortly before his death, he made a public appeal to Kenneth P. Thompson, the new DA in Brooklyn:
** Please look into this case!
** David is innocent!
** Please reverse his conviction!
Thompson served as the DA in Brooklyn from January to October 2014. He had good intentions. Sadly, he suffered from poor health. He had cancer. His poor health was killing him.
During his short tenure as DA, he looked into several cases of wrongful conviction, including the case of David. He was able to reverse at least 20 cases, including the case of David and Willie.
On 15 October 2014, David was released from prison. He had served 29 years for a crime he had not committed.
He had been exonerated. Willie, who died in prison, was granted a posthumous exoneration. When David walked out, he was a free and innocent man.
RATINGS AND REVIEWS
What do reviewers say about this film?
On IMDb it has a rating of 75 percent, which corresponds to 3.8 stars on Amazon.
On Amazon there are at the moment three global ratings and one global review of this product. The average rating is five stars, which corresponds to a rating of 100 percent.
CONCLUSION
If you ask me, the former rating is too low, while the latter rating is much more appropriate.
This is an important account of an important case. If you are interested in the criminal justice system in the US – in particular the question of wrongful conviction – this film is definitely something for you.
I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).
REFERENCES
Websites
** Outing the Law: A Website on Injustice
Books
** True Stories of False Confessions edited by Rob Warden and Steve A. Drizin (2009)
** Eye of the Hurricane: My Path from Darkness to Freedom by Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and Ken Klonsky (with a foreword by Nelson Mandela) (2011) (2013)
** How the Police Generate False Confessions: An Inside Look at the Interrogation Room by James L. Trainum (2016) (2018)
** Freeing David McCallum: The Last Miracle of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter by Ken Klonsky (2017)
** Duped: Why Innocent People Confess and Why We Believe Their Confessions by Saul Kassin (2022)
Documentary films
** Murder on a Sunday Morning (2001)
** The Trials of Darryl Hunt (2006)
** The Central Park Five (2012)
** An Unreal Dream (2013)
** A Murder in the Park (2014)
** True Conviction (2017)
*****
A poster for the film
*****
Ray Klonsky and David McCallum
*****
Freeing David McCallum:
The Last Miracle of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter
By Ken Klonsky
(2017)
*****
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