Murder on a Sunday Morning

Jean-Xavier de Lestrade's 2001 documentary follows a murder case in Jacksonville, Florida from start to finish. In May 2000 a tourist was shot dead outside a hotel; that same morning fifteen-year-old Brenton Butler, walking past the scene, was stopped by police. He was Black, and within hours he was the only suspect. The film records his public defenders taking the case apart piece by piece: there is no physical evidence, the identification contradicts itself, and all the state really holds is a confession whose circumstances are in question. De Lestrade tracks the courtroom and the defence team's preparation rooms almost in real time. It won the Academy Award for best documentary in 2002. Who it's for: viewers who follow legal system documentaries and work examining racial inequity in American criminal justice. Who it's not for: anyone expecting neutral presentation; the film stands openly with the defence.