Bucks Writs - Winter 2020 - 24

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Just Mercy
By Scott L. Feldman

I

t is not entirely clear why Bryan
Stevenson chooses to go to
Monroe County, Alabama shortly
after graduating Harvard Law School
in 1988. After all, he was raised
in Delaware. But we should all be
glad that he did.
Shortly after arriving in town with
little more than a modest grant and
some nice suits, he begins interviewing various death row inmates
at Holman Prison.
Just Mercy is based on Mr.
Stevenson's 2014 memoir of the same
name and relates the underlying case,
appeal and ultimate exoneration of
convicted murderer, Walter "Johnny
D" McMillan. McMillan was arrested
and convicted for the 1986 brutal
assault and murder of a young white
female employee of a dry cleaning
establishment. After many months,
the local sheriff was under much
pressure to solve the heinous crime.
Despite an alibi, no motive, and the
utter impracticality of McMillan being
at that location at that time, he was
nonetheless charged. The cast is of
the powerhouse variety, with Michael
B. Jordan ("Creed") starring as
Stevenson and Jamie B. Foxx (Oscar
award winner for "Ray") as the
death row inmate, McMillan. Though
somewhat underutilized, Brie Larsen
(Oscar award winner for "Room"),
plays Eva Ashley, who along with
Stevenson, volunteers for and is
a founder of the nonprofit Equal
Justice Initiative.
Stevenson was hardly a popular
figure upon his arrival in Monroe
County. The various Sheriff's
department, District Attorney and

"For every nine people who have been
executed in the U.S., one person on death
row has been exonerated and released, a
shocking rate of error."

-Just Mercy, post-credits text
prison employees he encounters all
display varying degrees of hostility
to the pro bono attorney. Ironically,
several such employees are quick
to mention how Monroe County
was the home of Harper Lee and
the setting for To Kill a Mockingbird
(renamed as Maycomb County). They
suggest that Stevenson visit the local
Mockingbird museum where "he
could stand right where Atticus Finch
once stood" when he delivered his
impassioned closing argument on
behalf of Tom Robinson.
A minor quibble, perhaps, but
almost every secondary character is
portrayed as black or white; That is,
with few shades of grey or nuance.
The "bad guys", and there are a lot
of them, are generally irredeemable.
One minor exception is a young
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white prison employee who seems
to undergo a bit of transformation
after witnessing the execution of a
death row inmate. In a prolonged
series of scenes reminiscent of Dead
Man Walking, an inmate's final
appeal is denied and the macabre
pageantry leading to his demise
in the electric chair is painstakingly depicted. Stevenson is clearly
impacted, and so are we.
Despite the many roadblocks, delays
and overt racism in the local criminal
justice system, Stevenson's diligent
research of the underlying facts and
details of McMillan's case ultimately
lead to an appeal to be heard
outside of Monroe County. Only
then, does his incredible uncovering
of blatantly false and coerced
"witness" testimony and a dearth
Bucks Writs - Winter 2020

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