EXCLUSIVEErrol Morris, Texas true-crime documentary filmmaker The Thin Blue Line He is returning to Texas for his latest project.
Morris will produce a Docuseries. End of sentenceWith Rebel Hearts Anchor Entertainment producer and Zo Wesson director about Benjamine Spencer.
Spencer, a Black man innocent of murder, was sentenced to 34 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
The project is based on Barbara Bradley Hagerty’s Reporting in The Atlantic
It comes four decades after Spencer’s conviction for the robbery and murder of the 33-year-old Dallas executive Jeffrey Young – a crime he maintains he did not perpetrate throughout his defense and subsequent appeals.
The first act will begin on March 12, 2021. Spencer was released from prison by the district attorney for being convicted after he received an unfair trial. However, what should have been a day full of joy is marred by a menace: Spencer will return to prison if a court on criminal appeals overturns his decision. If it maintains it, Spencer will go back to prison. The district attorney must decide whether to retry Spencer or dismiss the charges against him based upon actual innocence.
Morris’ recent projects include Netflix’s Wormwood and FX’s The Wilderness of Error
Anchor Entertainment is behind Discovery+’s Rebel Hearts and HBO’sUndercurrent: Kim Wall’s disappearanceAnchor Entertainment’s executive producers will be Ethan Goldman & Keayr Brady.
Errol Morris said, “I hate to use scare quotes but there’s no other way to talk about ‘justice’ in Texas. Benjamine Spencer’s story picks up whereThe Thin Blue Lineleft off. As Randall Adams was walking out of prison, Spencer was being sentenced to life by the same people who helped ensure Adams’s conviction. Both men were innocent. But one remained in prison for decades.End of Sentenceis a sickening, uncannily familiar tale: the particulars are different, but the tragedy is the same.”
“While his injustice feels familiar,End of Sentencewill document Benjamine’s personal story of struggle, despair and hope while meticulously tracing evidence from the late 80s to reveal an alternate theory that very well may prove his innocence and secure an exoneration” said Ethan Goldman, Founder and CEO of Anchor Entertainment.
Director Zo Wesson added, “A big reason I identified with Ben Spencer’s story is that early in my career I did a lot of production work in Texas where I would commute between Las Colinas and Fort Worth. During routine stops, I was often met with suspicious eyes, and I remember thinking that if I was falsely arrested there I wouldn’t have a chance, just like Benjamine. Back then, Texas’s slogan was ‘It’s Like a Whole Other Country,’ and as a Black man, that’s exactly how I felt. As a filmmaker of color, I believe we must persist in challenging this reality.”