Off center media : AOL Video feed

Tulia, Texas: Scenes from the Drug War

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:18:05 -0400

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

Hearne, Texas: Scenes from the Drug War

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 13:16:30 -0400

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.Â© 2005, 22:49UPDATE: 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 Boxleyâ€™s criminal record.

A Pattern of Exclusion: The Trial of Thomas Miller-El

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 12:20:18 -0400

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, 16:00On 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.

Darryl Best Advocacy Video

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 13:19:22 -0400

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

Executing the Insane: The Case of Scott Panetti

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 14:17:23 -0400

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. Scott Panetti thinks Texas wants to kill him because it is in cahoots with the devil. The devil, he theorizes, wants to stop him from preaching the gospel.Scott Panetti was tried for the capital murder of Joe Alvarado and Amanda Alvarado, his parents-in-law on September 8, 1992 in Gillespie County, Texas. At his trial, he fired his attorney and represented himself. He flipped a coin to decide on whether to keep a potential juror on his panel. Wearing a purple cowboy suit and mimicking a John Wayne character called the Ringo Kid, he blamed the shootings on another personality named â€œSarge.â€ As evidence, he tried to subpoena Jesus Christ, the Pope, and John F. Kennedy.He was subsequently sentenced to death on September 22, 1995. Panetti has an extensive history of mental illness, including schizophrenia, manic depression, auditory hallucinations and paranoia. Panetti was hospitalized, both voluntarily and involuntarily for mental illness fourteen times in six different hospitals before his arrest for capital murder in 1992. Following his conviction, Panettiâ€™s former wife, and daughter of the victims, Sonja Alvarado, filed a petition stating that Panetti never should have been tried for the crimes as he was suffering from paranoid delusions at the time of the killings.This video was produced in early 2007 with the Texas Defender Service. For more information about the case please visit:http://www.internationaljusticeproject.org/illnessSPanetti.cfm

James Allridge Clemency Video

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 13:36:12 -0400

In the Spring of 2004 Off Center Media teamed up with The Texas Defender Service for make a clemency video for James Allridge. James spent 18 years on death row in Texas for murdering a convenience store clerk. James was a model prisoner and a reformed man. On August 26, 2004 James Allridge was executed. ©2004, 20:12

The Struggle Continues

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:51:35 -0400

Off Center Media made The Struggle Continues in partnership with the Lynne Stewart Defense committee (www.lynnestewart.org) 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

Disturbing the Univese: Radical Lawyer William Kunstler (Promotional Trailer)

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:22:39 -0400

William Kunstler was one of the most famous lawyers of the 20th Century. His clients included Martin Luther King Jr,, the Chicago 8, the inmates in the Attica prison rebellion, and members of the Black Power and American Indian Movements. In Disturbing the Universe: Radical Lawyer William Kunstler, filmmakers Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler investigate their father's transformation from a middle-class family man into a person of courage who risked everything for his beliefs. This is a a documentary work in progress. The expected completion date is Fall, 2008.

Breaking the Chains: People of Color and the War on Drugs

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:51:30 -0400