Profile of Filmmaker Errol Morris essays

Profile of Filmmaker Errol Morris essays Dallas police officer, Robert Wood, was shot five times and murdered after pulling over a vehicle for a minor traffic violation. Randall Dale Adams was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death for the crime. Adams plead "not guilty" to the charges. He claimed 16 year old David Harris, whom he had spent several hours with on the day of the crime, was the true killer. In Mark Singer's "Profile of Filmmaker Errol Morris," Singer describes Randall Adams case as it was portrayed in the movie The Thin Blue Line. Singer argues that Morris made the film to prove Adams innocence and illustrate "that Adams had received anything but a fair trial." Singer, an author for The New Yorker Magazine, took personal interest in the case because he, as well as Morris, believed Adams was innocent and deserved a new and fair trial. The prosecution won the case against Adams for three major reasons: David Harris' testimony, Prosecutor Douglas Mulder's prominence, determination, and the prosecutions three key eyewitnesses, Emily Miller, Robert Miller, and Michael Randell. After the conclusion of the trial Adams maintained his innocence and filmmaker, Errol Morris met with David Harris and began to have doubts about Adams guilt. Morris investigated the case further and discovered it was "unfair" on constitutional grounds and Adams was in fact innocent. Morris made a movie entitled The Thin Blue Line, which was a description of the actual events in the Adams homicide case. Morris intended to illustrate thirteen points of unwarranted prosecution. There were four blatant acts of perjury or outright unfairness in Adams first trial. Judge Metcalf would not permit the use David Harris' extensive previous criminal record, including pending charges in another county as evidence. This left Adams in the "guilty chair" even before the trial began. Prosecutor Mulder demanded a guilty verdict with a death penalty s ...