Tue, Jan 19, 1999
A chronicle of the legal battles of publisher Larry Flynt. Included: Flynt v. Falwell, a libel suit heard by the U.S. Supreme Court; Flynt's conversion to Christianity; and the shooting that left him wheelchair-bound. Interviewed: Flynt, his brother Jimmy, his attorneys, Rev. Jerry Falwell.
Tue, Apr 20, 1999
American Justice profiles the 1975 murder of 15 year old Martha Moxley in the rich and well to do gated community of Greenwich Village, CT. Moxely was brutally beaten to death with a golf club on the eve of Halloween in 1975. Initially investigators determined that one of the main suspects was Thomas Skakel, brother of Michael. The Skakel family were neighbors to the Moxley's and part of the powerful Kennedy clan, and it was highly speculated that it was this wealth and power that was able to protect the Skakel boys from the investigation. Former Los Angeles detective Mark Fuhrmann privately investigated the case and named Michael Skakel as the murderer. Then he wrote a book about the incompetency of the investigation and why it took until 2002 to finally find Michael Skakel guilty of the crime.
Sun, Jun 13, 1999
Examining the case of boxer Hurricane Carter and his friend John Artis, who in 1967 were wrongly convicted of a 1966 triple homicide. Artis was eventually paroled in 1981, while Carter's conviction was finally overturned in 1985. Included: comments from Artis, Carter and their attorneys.
Tue, Jun 15, 1999
Examining two cases in which wrongly accused people were imprisoned because their trials were mishandled. Included: Florida farmer James Richardson, who spent 21 years in prison until his conviction was overturned in 1989; Chicago residents Perry Cobb and Darby Tillis, who were tried for the same crime for a record five times.
Tue, Aug 10, 1999
In the spring of 1981 an usually high number of patients are dying at Community Hospital of the Valleys in Perris, CA. After the hospital is closed for an inquiry investigators discover a sinister pattern. American Justice examines the case of serial killer Robert Diaz who was convicted of murdering 12 patients with lethal injections of the drug Lidocaine.
Tue, Aug 24, 1999
On February 1st, 1988 Russ Stager is accidentally shot in the head by his wife Barbara in their Durham, NC home as she tried to wake him from bed. With the help of Stager's ex-wife, investigators see it as something other than an accident. American Justice examines the murder conviction of Barbara Stager.
Wed, Sep 1, 1999
Documentary about the Jonesboro school massacre which occurred on Tuesday, March 24, 1998. The show depicts how 4 students and a teacher were killed by 2 armed middle school boys in Jonesboro a town in northeastern Arkansas. Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, pulled a school fire alarm and fired into the crowd as people filed out of the Westside Middle School, killing four girls and a teacher, and wounding 9 others. In August 1998, they were both sentenced to confinement until they reached the age of 21, the maximum under Arkansas law. The docudrama searches for clues to what happened and how to prevent similar tragedies in the future. The punishment the boys received led to changes in Arkansas' juvenile justice laws.
Tue, Sep 21, 1999
On June 3rd, 1986 at a hotel in St. Louis, Edward and Julie Post are in town from New Orleans for a real estate convention. Julie Post drowns in the bathtub of their motel room while Edward goes out for an early morning jog. Investigators initially thought the drowning to be accidental. But as they learn of Edward Post's financial debt and the insurance money that he was going to collect from the death of his wife they take a much closer look, and discover what they believe is a motive for murder.
Tue, Oct 5, 1999
David Graham and Diane Zamora were two teenagers who were intensely devoted to each other during high school and had both joined the U.S Naval Academy in Annapolis. While at the academy, Diane confides in roommates that her and David had murdered Adrianne Jones while they were in high school in Mansfield, TX. They had murdered Jones because David Graham had cheated on Zamora by having a one-time sexual encounter with Jones, and Zamora wanted to kill her in order purify their relationship. American Justice profiles this case of murder and jealousy that also became a made-for-television movie.
Tue, Oct 26, 1999
American Justice profiles some of the more bizarre defenses in the history of the American legal system. First up, the so called "Twinkie Defense". On Nov. 27, 1978, San Francisco City Supervisor Dan White shot and killed Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk who was another supervisor. White claimed he committed the crimes after binging on junk food. Next, "The Sleepwalking Defense" where Scott Falater stabbed his wife 44 times, but claimed he was sleepwalking while he did it. Then, "The Nymphomaniac Defense" where a woman claimed she was engaged in sexual surrogate therapy rather than prostitution.
Tue, Dec 7, 1999
On July 14th, 1993 eight kids in their teens to early twenty's get together for the evening in Hollywood, Florida (a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale)to hang out. Several of the teenagers gang up on 20 year old Bobby Kent, who was with their group, and stab him repeatedly. Kent dies from his wounds, and despite the efforts of the youths to cover up the incident, the truth comes out and they are all charged with 1st degree murder. In their defense they claimed that Bobby Kent was a "vicious bully and this was his payback".