Of Murder and Memory

Sally Linden (Annabeth Gish) is an author living with boyfriend Leonard (Callum Keith Rennie) in Canada. Her daughter Aimee (Kristen Hager) is going to college. She is haunted by an old case from 1993 in Hawaii when she was on the jury. The defendant was Theresa Nichol (Chandra West) accused of robbing and killing a man with her husband Vincent (Hugh Dillon). Vincent testifies against her. The judge is skewed against her. Sally was living with her boorish, abusive husband Danny (Gabriel Hogan) at the time. She found parallels between her life and Theresa. She was inclined to acquit but she is kicked off the jury for arriving 5 minutes late. Theresa is sentenced to 30 years and still imprisoned in California. Sally endeavors to reopen the case with the help of lawyer John Emory (Maury Chaykin).

This movie tries a little too hard dealing with guilt and innocence. This story should be a lot more murkier dealing with why she stayed. It should not be an easy answer. At least, it touches on some interesting ideas but it needs to stay within the complexity of the situations. That is where the truly fascinating emotions lie. This movie struggles to rise above its Lifetime TV movie genes. This is a bigger problem in this movie because it is based on a real case. This would be a better movie simply about the murders and the Nichols. All the stuff about the trials, the convictions, and the appeals are better left as post scripts.