Pace University DigitalCommons@Pace Pace Law Faculty Publications School of Law 1989 The Thinlue B Line: Art or Trial in the Fact-Finding Process? Bennett L. Gershman Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/lawfaculty Part of the Criminal Law Commons, and the Criminal Procedure Commons Recommended Citation Bennett L. Gershman, The Thinlue B Line: Art or Trial in the Fact-Finding Process?, 9 Pace L. Rev. 275 (1989), http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/lawfaculty/167/. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at DigitalCommons@Pace. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pace Law Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Pace. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Film Review The Thin Blue Line: Art or Trial in the Fact-Finding Process? By Bennett L. Gershmant Prosecutors in Dallas have said for years, "Any prosecutor can convict a guilty man; it takes a great prosecutor to convict an innocent man."' On November 28, 1976, about half-past midnight, on North Hampton Road in Dallas, Texas, Police Officer Robert Wood was shot to death at point blank range by the driver of a Mer- cury Comet. The killer sped away leaving no clues. After a month-long investigation, the police arrested Randall Dale Adams and charged him with the murder. Adams, who had no prior record, was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death.2 Twelve years later, Adams' case is the subject of an ex- traordinary film, The Thin Blue Line.s Blending monologues, restagings, old movie clips, visual artifacts, newspaper accounts, maps, drawings, photographs, and police reports, the documen- tary meticulously dissects what is known about the case and the identity of the killer.