"‘An Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story’ Premieres as CNN FILMS Broadcast on Thursday, Dec. 5 at 9:00 PM (ET)/8:00 PM (CT)," is the announcement from CNN. Here's the beginning:
Academy award-nominated filmmaker Al Reinert (Apollo 13 and For All Mankind) profiles a universal worst nightmare scenario of a man wrongly convicted of murdering his wife in the film AN UNREAL DREAM: THE MICHAEL MORTON STORY. The film will air for the first time ever on television at 9:00pm ET and PT on Thursday, Dec. 5 on CNN/U.S.
“We’re thrilled to bring this story to CNN audiences, raising awareness that the price of wrongful convictions goes well beyond individual loss of freedom for the wrongfully incarcerated” said Al Reinert, director of AN UNREAL DREAM.
Reinert’s award-winning documentary explores the harrowing true tale of Michael Morton, who stood accused and was convicted of the brutal murder of his young wife, Christine, in front of their three-year-old son, in 1986. Morton always maintained his innocence and was never connected to the horrific crime by either witnesses or physical evidence. As Morton spent nearly 25 years in the Texas penal system, he eventually lost all contact with his son Eric, who was raised by his wife’s relatives.
Throughout the film, Michael and Eric movingly describe their evolving estrangement. Michael Morton and other inmates also detail the pain of incarceration that Morton suffered unjustly for more than two decades – the relentless indignities, hard labor, desperate loneliness, and ever-present danger from other inmates. Morton describes the toughest blow as the day he learned his son had requested to be adopted by Christine Morton’s sister and her husband.
Related posts are in the documentary and Michael Morton category indexes. Earlier coverage of Michael Morton and his exoneration, at the link.
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