Fourteen Days in May
Fourteen Days in May is a documentary directed by Paul Hamann. The program recounts the final days before the execution of Edward Earl Johnson, an American prisoner convicted of rape and murder. Johnson protested his innocence and claimed that his confession had been made under duress. He was executed in Mississippi's gas chamber on May 20, 1987.
The documentary crew, given access to the prison warden, guards and chaplain and to Johnson and his family, filmed the last days of Johnson's life in detail. The documentary argues against the death penalty and maintains that capital punishment is disproportionately applied to African-Americans convicted of crimes against whites. The program features attorney Clive Stafford Smith, a noted advocate against capital punishment.
Fourteen Days in May won a British Film Institute Grierson Award and a top prize at the Festival dei Populi. It has been shown in many countries but has only appeared in an abbreviated form in the United States, on HBO. Hamann disowned this shortened version.
It was in direct response to this documentary that the Lifelines organization was set up, to organize pen pals for death row prisoners.
Every" AMERICAN" needs to watch this or how can anybody be an American? Does anyone remember FIRST GRADE "GO DOG GO" and had a ball in it and I think something was red in it too, and EVERY AMERICAN MEMORIZED "The Pledge of Allegiance". Now, Pat yourself on the back. After watching this documentary (that is true and factual 100x more than Santa Clause the Easter bunny and a few others I could put in there) now you understand what it means to be an American.
Now, their is a very simple way to fix the condition our world is in. It won't cost anybody any money.
Simply, share this with anybody that will listen. LOOK WHAT WE ARE DOING BY WAKING UP AND GOING TO WORK ......OR JUST BREATHING, WHAT ARE WE.......NOTHING BUT ???????
OH NO, this is a racial killing " just because I am black, they are sending me to death, just because I'm black." It just couldn't be that a heinous crime was committed, oh no, its "because I'm black."
When I worked in Corrections, I never found a guilty person in the entire facility. They all said they were " innocent" of their crime.
Worse programme I have ever seen I my whole life. I had to turn it off. Too upsetting to watch. I feel ashamed that human beings can be so cruel. RIP EEJ. And I hope that gas chamber is burnt to the ground. And why kill rabbits just to test the chamber works. WTF. Upset me big time.
Edward Earl Johnson should never be forgotten! My heart goes out to him and his family after watching the documentary. I hope and pray all those who were involved in setting him up, are held accountable on their judgement day! May Edward be Blessed for eternity, with his strong, beautiful soul..and may his story be told to help others get justice in a unjustified system! This is a Sick, Twisted, World we live in as it's STILL happening to other innocent people to this day!! R.I.E.P- EEJ.
There's a 2nd follow up documentary called The Journey. When they find the real killer!! Can anyone send me the link to watch it please? Am struggling to find it, as we all know they don't want us to know the real truth...
The truth is they murdered an innocent man!
One way to prevent horrific kinds of violent crime would be to execute the murderer in the same way as he/she killed his/her victim. This would make would-be murderers think twice before they choose to torture their victims.
My mom had the honor of discussing the Bible and Heaven with Edward. He became a very familiar name in my home growing up. He was a very kind and humbled person. He wanted justice, but didn't gripe about the mistreatment he had been given. He spoke of encouragement and told everyone that whatever happened was meant to be. God had his life in his hands.....Not man. Man took the breathe from his body, but God gave him a much better life. A much better reward. I do not like to think about his last hours, but my mom was right there with him and his family. It was devastating to see such an injustice carried out. When people take skin color to convict, they aren't looking for justice. They are looking for revenge. The Bible says, Revenge is mine, sayeth the Lord. I sure hope that the ones that put this young man in this tragic situation is given mercy from God that they denied him.
Sick little manipulative animal got what he deserved.
Earl Johnson Murder was manipulation at its worst and agree we live in a sick world!
Clive Stafford smith summed it all up in one for me it's a sick world, it's a sick sick world. Clive Stafford smith knows an innocent man when he sees one and this man was innocent make no mistake about that even the prison guards knew mr Johnson was innocent aswel as the Chaplin my god what does it take to prove innocence, as for the black woman going to the courtto say she was with mr Johnson I applaud your effort but as the saying goes to little to late.as for the white police officer just wonder was the reason you did let this lady in the court room a colour thing plain to see it was. One more thing Clive Stafford smith you are a true Gentleman.
The warden cabana said that this man actually was innocent. This is really sad
Unbelievable
To Pavolvs [sic] B**** - Ruth Ellis was clearly guilty of murder; the debate is whether she was in her right mind when she shot David Blakely.
However, there were definitely several innocent people hanged in Britain, some hanged by the most well known official executioner Albert Pierrepoint, who came to believe capital punishment was wrong. Mistakes HAVE been made, and continue to be made even with the jury system, fingerprint evidence, DNA etc. If you believe in the death penalty, you must logically argue that the odd judicial slip up is OK. But if this is your view then you should therefore agree that it's all right if it's your innocent child hanged. In Britain we're often told that the vast majority of the public support bringing back capital punishment, but if there were a full debate on it I wonder if this is true.
"Vengeance is mine", saith the Lord.
It seems quite contradictory to pray and ask for God's love when He doesn't even bother to save your life. Spend your whole life giving thanks and this is the help the big guy gives?
If there is a God what do you think Edward might have said to him when he finally saw Him? "Why didn't you give me justice?" might be one.
I'll watch it but I know for fact that plenty of patsys get executed wrongly; in UK our last woman to hang was Ruth Ellis and there's plenty of evidence for her innocence and who the guilty parties were. This was a class and sex crime. But I'll say this, blacks are arrested and convicted for the disproportionate number of crimes on whites which is given in police stats as 80%. White on black crime is rare by comparison but on the corporate level, the arch criminals, both black and white continue to sentence us all.
Oh no user removed video, I really wanted to watch this and possibly show it to my class. :(
user removed video :(
An interesting if not disturbing look at the final 2 weeks for life of Mississippi death row inmate Edward Earl Johnson awaiting death in the gas chamber. Aside from a live testing of the chamber using rabbits, the most poignant moment comes when Johnson sits in a waiting area between the last night cell and the death house. We know as we witness a tired and yawning Johnson; supported by his lawyer and a nun, that he has but a short time to live. Warden, Don Cabana tells Johnson that at quarter to midnight (which is only minutes away) doctors will come in and connect a stethoscope to his chest and that shortly after he will be moved into the chamber. Regardless of Johnson's guilt or innocence or the crime for which he was condemned, the viewer can only begin to imagine the process which ended Johnson's life soon after. Death by hydrogen cyanide gas is not as quick or seemingly painless as evidenced by the live test on the rabbits. The film ends with the announcement of death by the warden and a comment from Johnson's abolitionist lawyer that it's "a sick world". How right he was. Recommend reading 'Death at Midnight' by Don Cabana or 'The Last Face You'll Ever See' by Ivan Solotaroff.
If your going to sentence someone to death is it right to keep them on death row for years, I almost think it would be better to take them outside and put a bullet in their head. It seems that the harder they try to remove themselves from the actual killing, the more obscene it becomes. The whole process, the last meal, the last visit from family, last words, why string it out, Is that part of the punishment? It's like they have to prolong the revenge and suck the marrow out of it. Why try to make the execution itself so clinical after all that, when all's said and done the gas chamber is no less awful than hanging or beheading.
Jeffrey Dahma , 957 year sentence,
Edward Earl Johnson, death.
Not very consistent.
so sad so sad...Everybody is gonna die guess what this man might have a better position than those who executed him...
Iff it`s true that there was a woman who claims she was with him ,then the officer who send her away should should go to trail for murder!
this made me sick
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Mahatma Gandhi, (attributed) Indian political and spiritual leader (1869 - 1948) ...