At the Death House Door

2008 | 98 min. | Director: Peter Gilbert, Steve James | TVMA
The one question virtually unanswerable by proponents of the death penalty scarcely needs to be repeated: But what of the situations where an innocent man is accidentally shuttled off to execution? Taking this as a cue, opponents of capital punishment believe that any margin of error, no matter how small, makes the entire enterprise suspect. One person who shares such a conviction is Carroll Pickett, minister to death row inmates at a penitentiary in Texas; for 15 years, Pickett had no reservations about presiding over executions, until that fateful day when his path crossed with that of a Hispanic man named Carlos de Luna, unjustly accused of homicide. Shortly before this - his 96th official execution - was to occur, Pickett tape recorded much of his last day with de Luna. Listening to it, he became unshakably convinced of the man's innocence, and used his inner conviction as an impetus to team up with crime reporters from the Chicago Tribune and delve into the facts surrounding De Luna's highly questionable arraignment. With their documentary At the Death House Door, James and Gilbert both tell Pickett's heart-rending story and use it as a springboard into broader penetrative issues about capital punishment.

For more on this film, visit the official site.

Texan

This show was great, Regardless of whether you are for or against the death penalty. The lord does say "Vengeance is mine". I DO NOT AGREE with the death penalty here in Texas, I have lived here in Texas all of my 45 years of life and like Reverend Pickett states, the death penalty does NOT deter crime. I have heard the newscasters on the local television stations say that "another execution is scheduled tonight, wow they are really cranking them out". To me, that is a damn shame. It seems that no one cares that the state of Texas is playing GOD. And the Reverend is also correct when he says the majority of deathrow inmates are minorities. That too is a damn shame. I want to Thank Reverend Pickett and the filmmakers for doing this piece. The world needed to see this. Thank You!

Signed: NOT SO PROUD TO BE A TEXAN