Just Mercy(2019)
Warner Bros. Dec 25, 2019 | Wide
World-renowned civil rights defense attorney Bryan Stevenson works to free a wrongly condemned death row prisoner.
Releases
Original Release | Dec 25, 2019
- Jan 10, 2020 | Wide
Box Office Results
Results
$107,858
$36,001,502
$14,900,000
$50,901,502
Current Showtimes
Your Location or
(U.S. Only)
Director & Top Cast
Gallery
Technical Specifications
Sound Mix: Dolby Atmos
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Other Details
Country of Origin: United States
Language: English
Summaries
Plot Summary
- In 1989, idealistic young Harvard law graduate Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan) travels to Alabama hoping to help fight for poor people who cannot afford proper legal representation. He embarks on trying to combat social injustices in criminal law and practice, which have resulted in a high rate of African Americans convicted and incarcerated in the state and nationwide. This is primarily because either they receive no legal representation or exceptionally poor one, which allows the prosecution to press for capital punishments in even non heinous crimes.Bryan's mother is not happy with his decision and believes that there is a threat to his life in Alabama. She says that what Bryan is going to do will make a lot of people upset. Bryan meets with Eva Ansley (Brie Larson) and founds the Equal Justice Initiative, then travels to a prison to meet its death row inmates. Eva is married to Doug (Dominic Bogart) and has a son named Kris. The prison guards don't believe that Bryan is a lawyer and strip search and cavity search him, before letting him meet the inmates.He meets Walter "Johnny D." McMillian (Jamie Foxx), an African-American man who was convicted of the 1986 murder of Ronda Morrison, a 18 year old white woman. Sherrif Tate (Michael Harding) arrested Walter when he was returning from work. Walter had his own pulping business, was married and had a nice car. Walter says that in Alabama an African American is guilty from the moment he/she is born. The state has no fingerprints and no evidence against him. His only crime was that he looked like a man who could kill somebody. Zero inmates have been freed from the Alabama death row.Stevenson looks over the evidence in the case and discovers it hinges entirely on the testimony of convicted felon Ralph Myers (Tim Blake Nelson), who provided highly self-contradictory testimony in exchange for a lighter sentence in his own pending murder trial. Myers claimed that Walter approached him at a gas station and forced him to drive to Jackson Cleaners (the site of the crime) because his arm hurt. Myers claims that Walter asked him to wait while he went inside the cleaners. Myers made no attempt to contact the police or even run. Then, Myers heard shots and went inside to see Ronda's body lying face up, and Walter standing over her with a gun, with the owner of the store (whose testimony was never recorded). Myer's testimony was backed by another witness Bill Hooks who claimed to have seen Walter's truck leaving the cleaners at the time of the murder. The Sherrif had not been able to solve the Ronda murder for a year, and then the Myers testimony came along. Walter was sentenced to life imprisonment by the jury, but the judge overturned the verdict and gave Walter the death penalty.Stevenson meets Walter's family: wife Minnie McMillian (Karan Kendrick) who tells him that Walter was with his family at a BBQ at the day and time of the murder. Plus a few weeks ago he started having an affair with a white woman, which got out and this conviction was motivated to teach black people a "lesson".Stevenson's first move is to ask prosecutor Tommy Chapman (Rafe Spall) for aid; Chapman dismisses him without even looking at Stevenson's notes. Stevenson learns that, at the time of the murder, McMillian's family friend Darnell Houston was elsewhere with Bill Hooks who had subsequently falsely corroborated Myers' testimony. Bill Hooks lied as he had been arrested for burglary, and he was released without charges the moment he testified against Walter. Stevenson then asks Houston (Darrell Britt-Gibson) to testify that he was with a witness who corroborated Myers' testimony the day of the murder, which would cause the prosecution's case to fall apart. When Stevenson submits Houston's testimony, police arrest him for perjury. While Stevenson is able to get the perjury charges dismissed, Houston is intimidated into refusing to testify in court.Shortly afterward, Stevenson is threatened by two sheriff deputies, who force him from his car at gunpoint and illegally search the car. They refuse to tell him why he was pulled over but release him.During this period, Stevenson had a case on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of another death row inmate, Herbert Lee Richardson (Rob Morgan); the court denied the appeal. Convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend's niece with a bomb on her porch, Richardson had been sentenced to death by electric chair. Richardson said that he was in Vietnam and had PTSD and didn't mean to kill anybody. His lawyer never mentioned his military service or his mental illness at his trial. Unable to get it overturned, Stevenson promises to be with Richardson in his final moments and witnesses the execution.On behalf of McMillian, Stevenson directly confronts Myers. He admits that police coerced his testimony by threatening him with a death sentence. Myers was put into a cell closest to the kill room where prisoners were executed. Myers had seen his foster mother die of burning when he was 7 years old. Everyone knew that he was terrified of burning to death and so this was a psychological ploy to get him to give his testimony to escape death row. Bryan gets hold of court records which includes Myers's first statement to Sherrif Tate in which he states clearly that he knew nothing about the Ronda murder. The next statement in which he identifies Walter as the murderer was recorded 2 months later. Stevenson appeals to the local court in April 1992, to grant McMillian a retrial and successfully convinces Myers to recant his testimony on the stand. Other evidence includes the testimony of the first police officer to see Ronda's body who says that she was found face down and not face up. Myers's therapist who testifies that Myers repeatedly told him that he was being threatened to testify against Walter. The judge refuses to grant the retrial stating that there is no way to determine if Myers had been pressurized to recent his testimony.Stevenson appears on 60 Minutes to rally public support in favor of McMillian and appeals the court's decision to the Supreme Court of Alabama. The Supreme Court overturns the circuit court's decision, and grants McMillian a retrial. Stevenson tries to have the charges dismissed entirely. He confronts Chapman at home and tries to convince him to join in this motion; Chapman forces him to leave.On the day of the motion, Stevenson appeals to the judge. That day, Chapman joins him in the motion, the judge dismisses the charges, and McMillian is finally released from prison and reunited with his family.An epilogue notes that Stevenson and Ansley continue their fight for justice. McMillian remained friends with Stevenson until his natural death in 2013. A follow-up investigation into Morrison's 1986 murder confirmed McMillian's innocence. Evidence suggested that a white man was likely responsible, but the case has never been officially solved. McMillian's former cellmate, Anthony Ray Hinton, remained on death row for 28 years. Stevenson handled his defense and was eventually able to get all the charges dropped. Hinton was released in 2015.
Storyline
- Bryan Stevenson works to free a wrongly condemned death row prisoner. A powerful and thought-provoking true-story, "Just Mercy" follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson (Jordan) and his history-making battle for justice. After graduating from Harvard, Bryan might have had his pick of lucrative jobs. Instead, he heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned, with the support of local advocate Eva Ansley (Larson). One of his first, and most incendiary, cases is that of Walter McMillian (Foxx), who, in 1987, was sentenced to die for the notorious murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite a preponderance of evidence proving his innocence and the fact that the only testimony against him came from a criminal with a motive to lie. In the years that follow, Bryan becomes embroiled in a labyrinth of legal and political maneuverings and overt and unabashed racism as he fights for Walter, and others like him, with the odds - and the system - stacked against them. — Gregg Brilliant After graduating from Harvard, Bryan Stevenson heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned or those not afforded proper representation. One of his first cases is that of Walter McMillian, who is sentenced to die in 1987 for the murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite evidence proving his innocence. In the years that follow, Stevenson encounters racism and legal and political maneuverings as he tirelessly fights for McMillian's life. — yusufpiskin
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