Deadline

In the fall of 2002, a few hours before an execution was to take place, a group of journalism students discovered evidence that the man on death row had been wrongfully convicted. After the execution, evidence supporting the innocence of several death row prisoners started to appear. When the evidence reached George Ryan, the Governor of Illinois, he began to doubt the entire justice system. Deadline is a documentary that recaptures the events that took place during the fall of 2002 and led to George Ryan's decision to grant clemency to 170 prisoners sentenced to death.
Aside from showing the Governor's personal struggle with the justice system, Deadline also uncovers the history and the politics behind the capital punishment in the United States. In a factual, unsensational way, the film showcases the discrimination within the Justice System and seriously questions the reasons for the death penalty so widely supported by the American public. Deadline was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

OLLE SVALANDER