UN COUPABLE IDEAL (MURDER ON A SUNDAY MORNING)

France, 2001, 111 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Jean-Xavier? de Lestrade.

Un Coupable Ideal won the Oscar for best documentary of 2001. French director of documentaries de Lestrade, was interested in making a documentary in the United States. When he visited Florida, he came across the case of Brenton Butler who was accused of a murder. In meeting Butler and, especially, his lawyer Patrick Mc Guiness, de Lestrade decided to follow the case to make it a documentary.

In fact, Brenton Butler was a fifteen-year-old wrongly accused of murder, wrongly identified by the husband of the victim, treated badly by Jacksonville police who lied during their cross-examination. When the trial was completed, he was acquitted in forty-five minutes.

The film focuses on Patrick Mc Guiness and his associate Ann Linnel. They were both public defenders who took their role seriously, examined the case, did more investigations than the police did. Mc Guiness comes across as a very impressive character as does Ann Linnell.

The film has been used in subsequent years in law schools to illustrate the work of public defenders, the ways of cross-examination, the ways of research – and interpreting the evidence put forward by police.

1. The impact of the film? Winning an Oscar? A European perspective on the United States?

2. The response of the legal profession, favourable, the use of the film in studies? The film screened on television around the world and the acclaim? The emotional effect, the intellectual effect?

3. The titles?

4. The director and his work, age, experience in documentary film-making, the decision to go to the United States, meeting Patrick Mc Guiness? Meeting Ann Linnel? The basis for his decision to make the film, the time devoted to it, his editing it? The importance of the extras on the DVD – giving background to the characters as well as some extra scenes, especially about the prosecutor and the police?

5. The documentary style of the film, reality, locations, people, the prisons, the scene of the crime, the streets, the court? Patrick Mc Guiness’s workplace?

6. The editing, pace, decisions for close-ups, the court, the cross-examinations, the jury …?

7. The impact of Patrick Mc Guiness, as a person, Ann Linnel as a person, public defenders, their role in the community, taking on cases, assessing cases and responsibility, guilt or innocence? The attitudes? The interiors of his office, the interviews? His working behind the scenes? Discussions with people concerned? The research and investigations?

8. The presentation of the crime, Mr Stevens, the experience of his wife’s death, his memory of detail, identifying Brenton Butler, his testimony in court? The fact that Brenton Butler was not guilty?

9. Butler himself, the situation, at home, his devout parents, the Sunday morning, prayer, in his room, the music, his brother? The plan to go to Blockbusters for a job application? His caring for the dog? His story, the identification as the murderer, his age, arrest, the interrogations, Glover and his violence, going into the woods and his being hit, the signing of the confession, words put into his mouth, in the court, introverted, his testimony?

10. The prosecutor, serious, her objections?

11. The judge, listening, fair, the scenes of the jury? (And the DVD extra showing the empanelling and rejection of jurors?)

12. Ann and her explanations, her role in the case, her cross-examination?

13. Patrick, his explanations, in court, his personal feelings, the cross-examinations?

14. The police personalities, their stories, Williams and his incompetence, the smug police officer? Glover and the implications of his job, connections, his getting confessions, violence? The manner of these men in the cross-examinations? Their lies? Saving face?

15. The witnesses, the doctor and her photos of Brenton Butler’s injuries, Stevens, the bag, finding it, the cross-examination? The irony of the money found so far from the scene of the crime?

16. The Butlers, the mother and her being devout, the father and his support of his son, prayer with him in the jail? Their visits? Brenton in this context?

17. The summaries, the emotional impact of the summaries? The quick verdict, the joy of the aftermath?

18. The irony of the DNA, the fingerprints, the arrest of the actual killer and his trial?

19. A significant experience, the power of cinema, capturing the procedures, the case, the personnel involved, the processes?