The Exonerated
Encyclopedia
The Exonerated is a made-for-cable television
film which dramatizes the true stories of six people who had been wrongfully convicted of murder and other offenses, placed on death row
, and later exonerated and freed after serving varying years in prison. It was based on a successful stage play of the same name written by Erik Jensen and Jessica Blank
and first aired on the former CourtTV cable television
network on January 27, 2005. It is directed
by Bob Balaban
was produced by Radical Media.
Actors played the roles of the five men and one woman. It stars David Brown, Jr. (the only cast member to have appeared in the stage play) as Robert Earl Hayes, Brian Dennehy
as Gary Gauger
, Danny Glover
as David Keaton, Delroy Lindo
as Delbert Tibbs
, Aidan Quinn
as Kerry Max Cook
and Susan Sarandon
as Sonia "Sunny" Jacobs.
The script was based on the exonerees' personal experiences as well as court records and media accounts.
Jessica Blank, who is married to Erik Jensen, got the idea for the play when she moved from Minneapolis
, Minnesota
to New York City
. She and Jensen attended a conference about the death penalty and listened to stories about wrongful convictions and confessions gained via torture
, threats and deception. The couple spent the summer of 2000 interviewing exonerees throughout the United States
and adapted the stories of six people into a script.
The play was first presented in New York City
; the final performance was in Minneapolis in 2002.
For their efforts, Jensen and Blank received the Champion of Justice Award from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
. http://www.nacdl.org/public.nsf/freeform/Awards?OpenDocument&ExpandSection=5#_Section5
Aidan Quinn reprised his role as Kerry Max Cook in The Exonerated's staging at the Dublin Theatre Festival in Dublin, Ireland
in October, 2006 as well as the stage version in New York City. David Soul
took over the role of Gary Gaugher for several of the Dublin performances
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
film which dramatizes the true stories of six people who had been wrongfully convicted of murder and other offenses, placed on death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
, and later exonerated and freed after serving varying years in prison. It was based on a successful stage play of the same name written by Erik Jensen and Jessica Blank
Jessica Blank
Jessica Blank, born in New Haven, Connecticut, is an American actress, playwright, and novelist who has appeared in film, television, and theater. She has appeared in several movies, including The Namesake, The Exonerated, and You’re Nobody 'til Somebody Kills You, and the indies Undermind and On...
and first aired on the former CourtTV cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
network on January 27, 2005. It is directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Bob Balaban
Bob Balaban
Robert Elmer "Bob" Balaban is an American actor, author and director.-Personal life:Balaban was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Eleanor and Elmer Balaban, who owned several movie theatres and later was a pioneer in cable television...
was produced by Radical Media.
Actors played the roles of the five men and one woman. It stars David Brown, Jr. (the only cast member to have appeared in the stage play) as Robert Earl Hayes, Brian Dennehy
Brian Dennehy
Brian Mannion Dennehy is an American actor of film, stage and screen.-Early years:Dennehy was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Hannah and Edward Dennehy, who was a wire service editor for the Associated Press; he has two brothers, Michael and Edward. Dennehy is of Irish ancestry and was...
as Gary Gauger
Gary Gauger
Gary Gauger is a formerly imprisoned convict, who was falsely accused and convicted of the murders of his parents, Morris and Ruth Gauger, and later exonerated. Following the murder on April 8, 1993, Gauger ultimately spent nearly two years in prison and 9 months on Death Row before being released...
, Danny Glover
Danny Glover
Danny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.-Early life:...
as David Keaton, Delroy Lindo
Delroy Lindo
Delroy George Lindo is an English actor and theatre director. Lindo has been nominated for the Tony and Screen Actors Guild awards and has won a Satellite Award...
as Delbert Tibbs
Delbert Tibbs
Delbert Tibbs is an American man who was wrongfully convicted of murder and rape in 1974 and sentenced to death, and was later exonerated. He later became a writer and anti-death penalty activist.-Early life and trial:...
, Aidan Quinn
Aidan Quinn
-Early life:Quinn was born in Chicago, Illinois to Irish parents. He was brought up as a Roman Catholic and raised in Chicago and Rockford, Illinois, as well as in Dublin and Birr, County Offaly in Ireland. His mother, Teresa, was a homemaker, and his father, Michael Quinn, was a professor of...
as Kerry Max Cook
Kerry Max Cook
Kerry Max Cook is a former death-row inmate who was wrongly convicted for the rape and death of 21-year-old Linda Jo Edwards in 1977. He was born in Stuttgart, Germany. In 1972, he moved to Texas with his family. Kerry Max Cook served over 20 years in a Texas prison on death row...
and Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her...
as Sonia "Sunny" Jacobs.
The script was based on the exonerees' personal experiences as well as court records and media accounts.
Jessica Blank, who is married to Erik Jensen, got the idea for the play when she moved from Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. She and Jensen attended a conference about the death penalty and listened to stories about wrongful convictions and confessions gained via torture
Police brutality
Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer....
, threats and deception. The couple spent the summer of 2000 interviewing exonerees throughout the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and adapted the stories of six people into a script.
The play was first presented in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
; the final performance was in Minneapolis in 2002.
For their efforts, Jensen and Blank received the Champion of Justice Award from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is an American criminal defense organization. Their stated mission is to "Ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime. Foster the integrity, independence and expertise of the criminal defense profession...
. http://www.nacdl.org/public.nsf/freeform/Awards?OpenDocument&ExpandSection=5#_Section5
The exonerated
- Kerry Max CookKerry Max CookKerry Max Cook is a former death-row inmate who was wrongly convicted for the rape and death of 21-year-old Linda Jo Edwards in 1977. He was born in Stuttgart, Germany. In 1972, he moved to Texas with his family. Kerry Max Cook served over 20 years in a Texas prison on death row...
: Convicted of murdering a neighbor in TexasTexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
in 1977; exonerated in 1997. - Gary GaugerGary GaugerGary Gauger is a formerly imprisoned convict, who was falsely accused and convicted of the murders of his parents, Morris and Ruth Gauger, and later exonerated. Following the murder on April 8, 1993, Gauger ultimately spent nearly two years in prison and 9 months on Death Row before being released...
: Convicted of murdering his mother and father in IllinoisIllinoisIllinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
in 1993; exonerated in 1996. - Robert Earl Hayes: BlackAfrican AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
FloridaFloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
racetrack worker convicted of murdering a white woman in 1990; exonerated in 1997. In 2004, the real Robert Hayes plead guilty to manslaughter and arson in a 1987 rape and murder in New York. He is now serving 15 to 45 years. He is also the prime suspect in rapes in Delaware and New Jersey. - Sonia "Sunny" Jacobs: Convicted, along with common law husband, Jesse TaferoJesse TaferoJesse Joseph Tafero , was convicted of murder and executed via electric chair in the state of Florida for the murders of Florida Highway Patrol officer Phillip Black and Donald Irwin, a visiting Canadian constable and friend of Black...
, and his friend, Walter Rhodes, of murdering Philip Black, a Florida state trooper and Donald Irwin, a visiting CanadianCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
constableConstableA constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
in 1976; plead no contest and was released in 1992. Tafero was executed in 1990. - David Keaton: Convicted of murdering a Florida police officer in 1971; exonerated in 1973.
- Delbert TibbsDelbert TibbsDelbert Tibbs is an American man who was wrongfully convicted of murder and rape in 1974 and sentenced to death, and was later exonerated. He later became a writer and anti-death penalty activist.-Early life and trial:...
: Black Florida man convicted of murdering a white man and raping his girlfriend in 1974; exonerated in 1976. He was eventually freed in 1979 after serving time for an unrelated charge.
Aidan Quinn reprised his role as Kerry Max Cook in The Exonerated's staging at the Dublin Theatre Festival in Dublin, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
in October, 2006 as well as the stage version in New York City. David Soul
David Soul
David Soul is an American-British actor and singer, best known for his role as Detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson in the television programme Starsky and Hutch . He gained British citizenship in 2004.-Early life:...
took over the role of Gary Gaugher for several of the Dublin performances