Brian McQuery
Heather Langenkamp, Jasmine Jessica Anthony, Anne Marie Howard
A true crime documentary tells the story of the rape and murder of Joanna Heeley and of her husband's best friend, Hardy Knight, who is convicted of the crime based on circumstantial evidence. Hardy protests his innocence and claims to have been on a date at a concert on the night of the murder, but his date is married and when asked about her whereabouts, she tells police she was at a girlfriend's home after a night of drinking. Once the date learns that Hardy is accused of murder, she comes clean and tells the truth, but law enforcement paints her as a liar and her testimony is suspect. Hardy spends the next 20 years in prison, trying to prove his innocence. Eventually, he finds an attorney willing to take on his case. When DNA in a similar rape/murder matches the DNA found on Joanna Heeley, they try for an appeal, but it is denied because Hardy was not convicted on DNA evidence. Eventually a woman learns of the case, remembers Hardy from the concert and produces photographs and negatives that show Hardy and his date behind her and her friend at the concert. Hardy agrees to an Alford Plea and is released from prison. When he was convicted, Hardy was estranged from his young daughter, but in her teenage years, she found out he was in prison, they became pen pals and when she was of age, she began visiting him. Now a free man, Hardy and his daughter are roommates as he embarks on a path to rebuild his life. Tom Heeley, Joanna's husband, was traumatized by the loss of his wife. He was convinced by law enforcement that his best friend was the killer. And now that Hardy is free, Tom feels terribly guilty. He has become a recluse who works from home and obsessively watches the true crime documentary as well as home movies of Joanna. He relentlessly calls the detective and the prosecutor on the case, but they consider the case closed and do not take his calls. His sister Ruth checks on him and brings him groceries while trying to be supportive and also dishing out some tough love, but she cannot seem to snap him out of his funk. Eventually he reunites with Hardy. And then Tom finds purpose. Olivia Scott-Milner, the prosecutor, is about to leave for court to give her closing on a murder trial when she is kidnapped at gunpoint in her garage.
2022