For two of the youngest men on death row in Texas, execution day has arrived. Victim Nikki Daniels reflects on her kidnapping ordeal by murderer Richard Cobb and battles with her conflicting desires to forgive him, while the mother of death row inmate Anthony Haynes fights to use the final 72 hours to halt her son's execution for the murder of a police officer.
The second film follows the trial of 26-year-old Guy Heinze Jr, with remarkable access to the jury members charged with reaching a verdict on allegations that Heinze beat his father and seven members of his family to death. As the trial progresses, there is legal manoeuvring while evidence about the brutal killings unfolds.
The final film of the series follows 25-year-old legal student Kelly Hickman as she attempts to save two of the young killers facing execution in America.
On March 11 2009, Daniel Lopez was pulled over for driving erratically. The dramatic car chase that ensued killed a police officer and 27-year-old Daniel was given the death penalty. Unusually for a death row prisoner, he is resisting all appeals to block his execution - which is due in five weeks time. The state-appointed attorneys for Lopez are arguing that their client is using the justice system as a form of suicide. His family are also pleading with him to fight the execution and stay alive for them. With access to Daniel, his lawyers, his parents and the widow of the police officer that Daniel killed, this film follows the lead up to 'execution day'. Will Daniel go to his death, as he insists he wants to do, or will the people who love him be able to save him?
In April 2013, 18-year old Shawn Ford Jr was charged with killing his girlfriend's parents with a sledgehammer. Now he is on trial for his life and a jury of twelve ordinary people must decide whether he should live or die. This film follows the court case from the inside, as both the family of the victims and the defendant struggle to come to terms with such a horrific crime. But it is the jurors who must ultimately decide Shawn's fate. As the details of the shocking murders mount, can an impassioned plea for mercy from Shawn's mother save her son's life?
In January 2014, in small town America, 18 year old Justin Back is brutally murdered in his own home. Two friends - Austin Myers and Tim Mosley, both 19, are arrested and charged with his murder. Both give very different stories. Who is telling the truth? What will they individually do to save themselves from the ultimate punishment - the death penalty? With access to the filmed confessions of both boys, this film shines a disturbing light on the American criminal justice system.
T.T. Trottie is preparing himself to lose another parent. His father killed his mother 21 years ago and will be executed a week from now.
On February 2nd 2017, John Henry Ramirez (32) is scheduled for execution by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas. Convicted of committing a Capital Murder in 2004, he was sentenced to death, by Judge Bobby Galvan in Corpus Christi, Texas in 2008 for a robbery that netted him and his two female accomplices, lovers Angela Rodriguez and Christina Chavez, a grand total of $1.25. His victim Pablo Castro, a Mexican immigrant convenience store worker with young children, was left for dead from fatal stab wounds as the former US Marine, went on the run to Mexico, becoming one of America’s most wanted.
Nobody has seen Heather Strong, a beautiful wife and mother, for over a month. Concerned for her whereabouts, detectives bring in her estranged husband Joshua Fulgham for questioning. During his initial interview, police discover Josh had a pregnant lover, Emilia Carr. Growing more suspicious, detectives want to interview Emilia to find out what she knows about the disappearance of Heather.
Heather is still missing, but the explanation about her leaving the State of Florida with a suitcase doesn’t add up when police find somebody else has been using her credit card a few miles from where she disappeared. Detectives also learn about Josh’s violent history. Whilst they turn up the heat on Josh, detectives are still questioning his pregnant lover, Emilia. 16:00
Josh gives detectives what they've been waiting for - a breakthrough in the case. Detective Buie wants to find out more about the relationship between Emilia, Josh and Heather. He tries to play Emilia and Josh against each other when Josh suggests that Emilia might know more about Heather’s disappearance. After a few hours, Emilia is sent home whilst Josh is arrested for fraudulently using Heather's credit cards.n Josh offers detectives new information which may prove to be a breakthrough in the case.
Detectives discover the location of Heather's body and find that she has been murdered. But they are still no closer to catching her killer. Knowing from the police that Josh is implicating her, Emilia’s loyalty to Josh falters.
Emilia and Josh are telling very different stories. Who is telling the truth? Emilia tells detectives about a dramatic discovery that point towards Josh being Heather’s killer. But why didn’t she come forward before? Who is telling the truth? To complicate matters further, Josh brings two new suspects into the frame, and what they say sheds an entirely different light on the case.
The two new suspects, Jamie and Jason, cast suspicion on Emilia’s story about being friends with Heather. But Emilia reveals they have personal grievances against her, and that the love triangle is in fact a 'love square'. Emilia’s children are taken away and she calls Spivey to ask about immunity.
Josh has been in jail for fraudulently using Heather’s credit cards, and Heather is all he can think about. He sends a message to Buie from his prison cell, requesting that they speak again about Heather’s murder.
Police believe that Emilia is involved in Heather’s death, but they have no proof. When Josh’s sister Michelle contacts them saying she wants to help, they set in motion a plan to find out what Emilia will tell Michelle about Josh, or about Heather’s murder. They plant a bug in Michelle’s car and secretly record to their conversation.
In this episode we meet death row inmate Stacey Johnson, who is scheduled to be executed for a crime that he claims he didn't commit. With just weeks to go, his wife Judy and stepdaughter Tasha are doing all they can to stop the execution from going ahead. We also meet Susan, whose mother was murdered in a home invasion by inmate Don Davis in 1990. Susan has been waiting for Davis's execution for decades and wants justice to finally be carried out so she and her family can find peace.
In this episode, inmate Stacey Johnson and his family are attempting to get his execution stayed on the basis that DNA testing could prove his innocence. However, the daughter of Johnson's victim, who witnessed the murder, is fighting for the execution to go ahead so she can finally put her mother's death behind her.
In this episode we meet Lynn Scott, the sister of death row inmate Jack Jones – the next prisoner in line to die. Jones has severe medical problems including diabetes, which led to him having a leg amputated in prison. Jones and his sister are worried that the number of medications he is on could mean the lethal injection drugs don’t work properly, resulting in an agonising death.
The family of murdered teenager John Melbourne Jr. are fighting for the execution of death row inmate Jason McGehee to go ahead. McGehee’s lawyers argue that his sentence is unjust, as he is only one out of a group of teenagers responsible for the murder. In fact, the person who actually took John’s life is eligible for parole in 2025. We also meet Kayla Greenwood, whose father, Michael, was murdered by death row inmate Kenneth Williams in a road traffic collision after he escaped from prison. In an extraordinary act of forgiveness, Kayla, is desperate to reconnect the killer with the daughter, Jasmine, he hasn’t seen for 17 years.
A former US Marine, seven days from execution, meets the son he fathered on the run, giving him a will to live. His murder victim’s boys recall the impact of having their dad brutally killed.
