Plot: Largely through interviews with the people involved and through reenactments, documentary filmmaker Errol Morris delves into the case that placed then twenty-seven year old drifter Randall Adams on Death Row, that sentence eventually commuted to life. The 1976 situation was what started out as a routine police stop of a vehicle for a traffic violation on a highway in Dallas County, the driver of that vehicle who shot the officer, Robert Wood, point blank twice resulting in Wood's death at the scene. Wood's female partner shot at the vehicle as it drove off after the shooting, she who did not see the driver. Through the evidence that he has amassed of the case, Morris posits that the actual person driving the car that night, and thus the shooter, was sixteen year old David Harris, who had met Adams for the first time the previous day. Morris lays out the foundation of the powers and probable reasons Adams was convicted, those items which were many which resulted in the perfect storm for that conviction. Morris also provides information on Harris' life before and after his encounter with Adams, who now has nothing to lose in arguably the reason why he cooperates with Morris in this movie.
Alternative Plot: One night in November 1976, after his car breaks down on a road outside Dallas, Randall Dale Adams accepts a ride from teenager David Harris. Harris is driving a stolen vehicle and, later that night, when Dallas police officer Robert Wood pulls the car over to check its headlights, he is shot and killed. A jury believes Adams is the killer, but Errol Morris' classic documentary explores the role of Harris' perjured testimony, misleading witness accounts and police misconduct in the verdict.
Rate this movie!