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Off
Center is currently in post-production on a feature-length
documentary about Ryan Matthews, a teenager who was sentenced
to death in Louisiana for a crime he did not commit.
To
read the project synopsis, click
here.
To read Bob Herbert's 7/14/03 NY Times Op-Ed on Ryan's case,
click here.
To contribute to the production fund and become a project
producer, click here. |
| UPDATE:
On 8/09/04, Ryan Matthews became the 119 death row inmate
to be freed, and the 14th exonerated with the help of DNA
evidence. |
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Scott
Panetti is schizophrenic and is currently on death row in
Texas. The U.S. Supreme Court heard Scott's case in mid April
and is expected to hand down their decision on Thursday June
28th.The high court has long held that it is cruel and unusual
punishment to execute the insane. In Scott Panetti's case
the justices are examining whether it is cruel and unusual
punishment to execute a person who does not fully understand
the reason he is to be put to death. ©
2007, 30:00
Earlier this year Off Center Media made a clemency
video for Scott Panetti with the Texas
Defender Service. Click here
for more information about Scott's case.
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| UPDATE:
JUNE 28, 2007, IN A 5-4 VOTE THE SUPREME COURT BLOCKS
THE EXECUTION OF SCOTT PANETTI. READ
THE 6.28.07 ASSOCIATED PRESS ARTICLE |
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Danial
Williams, Joseph Dick Jr., Derek Tice, and Eric Wilson joined
the Navy with aspirations of serving their country. Today,
three of the four are in prison, serving life sentences for
falsely confessing to a rape/murder that none of them committed,
despite the fact that DNA has identified the real killer.
©
2006, 32:39
Off Center recently completed
The Norfolk Four: A Miscarriage of Justice, a 30-minute
documentary about the Norfolk Four that has been submitted
to the Governor of Virginia as part of a clemency petition.
Visit
the Norfolk Four website
Tell
the Governor of Virginia that you support clemency for the
Norfolk Four. |
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Off
Center Media made The Struggle Continues in partnership with
the Lynne Stewart Defense
Committee in the spring of 2006. Lynne Stewart is a radical
human rights attorney who was convicted of helping her terrorist
client Sheikh Abdel Rahman. At the time this video was produced
Lynne Stewart was facing 30 years in prison.Lynne Stewart
received a 28-month sentence in October 2006, but is free
on bail pending appeal.©2006, 16:22 |
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The
story of a community engaged in a struggle to clear the names
of those swept up in a corrupt drug raid. Produced in association
with the ACLU
of Texas.
©
2005, 22:49
To view project with Windows Media Player,
click here.
To view project with Real Player, click
here. |
| UPDATE:
By November 2005, the criminal records relating to the 2000
Hearne,Texas drug raid were expunged for all of the plaintiffs
in Kelly v. Paschall, the ACLU's civil suit (Michael Wells,
Regina Kelly, Quincy Higgins, Milton Dunn, Darrell Gray, and
Fredrick Seymore and Donal Eddington). Brad Boxley, the last
defendant in prison, returned home, and the ACLU has filed
a habeas petition on his behalf that seeks to erase Boxley’s
criminal record. |
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A
clemency video for Darryl Best, a man serving 15 years to
life under New York's Rockefeller Drug Laws. Mr.
Best, 49, was convicted after signing for a Federal Express
package while at his uncle's house in the Bronx, repairing
the roof. The package turned out to contain cocaine and the
uniformed Fedex delivery man was an undercover officer.
©2004,
10:20
To view project with Real Player, click
here.
To read about Darryl's story click
here. |
| UPDATE:
On 12/23/05, Governor George Pataki granted clemency to Mr.
Best. Darryl Best's clemency petition is the only one that
Pataki granted this year. Darryl's wife Wanda, the William
Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice and the Mothers of
the Disappeared, along with Peter Greer and Jason Flom, have
struggled tirelessly to make this day a reality. |
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Tulia,
Texas is the site of what's been called one of the worst miscarriages
of justice in recent memory. It's where an undercover narcotics
officer named Tom Coleman arrested 46 people - nearly all
of them black - on charges of being cocaine dealers, sending
many of them to prison for a total of 750 years. See the documentary
that brought national media attention to the story and led
to the exoneration of these wrongfully convicted men and women.
Produced by the William
Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice.Winner, Best Documentary
Short, Woodstock Film Festival 2003. ©2002, 27:00
To view a draft of the project with Real Player,
click
here.
To read
Bob Herbert's 6/19/03 NY Times Op-Ed on the release, click
here. |
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A
video about racial discrimination in jury selection in the
trial of Thomas Miller-el, a man sentenced to death in Texas
in 1985. Produced in association with the Texas
Defender Service.
©2002, 16:00
To
view project with Real Player, click
here.
To learn more about the case, click
here. |
| UPDATE:
On 6/13/05, the United States Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3
decision that Mr. Miller-El is entitled to a new trial in
light of strong evidence of racial bias during jury selection
at his original trial. |
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There are at least 400,000 Palestinian refugees living in
Lebanon and more then half still live in refugee camps. The
living conditions of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are
considered to be the worst of all of the Arab host countries.
In June of 2004, 11 members of the National Lawyers Guild
participated in a week long delegation to Lebanon to examine
the conditions of the Palestinian Refugees. They visited
12 refugee camps and settlements across the country. This
video was put together as a result of their findings.
Produced in association with the Middle East Subcommittee
of the National
Lawyers Guild. © 2004 16:00 |
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 In
May of 2002, a delegation from National Lawyers Guild went
on a factfinding mission to the West Bank and Gaza. This video
documents their journey. Produced in association with the
Middle East Subcommittee of the National
Lawyers Guild.
©2002, 27:00
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For
three days, at one Greenwich Village payphone, hundreds
of New Yorkers tried to get through to the President.With
both humor and sincerity, New Yorkers fed quarters into
a payphone and braved busy signals and excessive hold times
to get their voices heard on topics such as the environment,
healthcare, gay marriage, the war in Iraq, and much more.
Produced in association with The
Documentary Campaign.
©2004, 07:00
To watch the trailer in Quicktime, click
here.
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A
video celebrating the inaugural "Break the Chains"
Conference focusing on Communities of Color and the War on
Drugs in the United States. Produced in association with Break
the Chains.
©2003, 16:00 |
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 Public
Service Announcements about the collateral effects of New
York's Rockefeller Drug Laws on families. Produced in association
with The
Drug Policy Alliance. (In
Spanish and English)
©2001,
00:30
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