The strength of a family, is like the strength of an army and is in its loyalty to each other.
Conviction is a 2010 drama film directed by Tony Goldwyn, based on the incredible true story of a sister's unwavering devotion to her brother.
In Ayer, Massachusetts, the siblings Betty Anne and Kenneth 'Kenny' Waters are very close to each other and they are neglected by their single mother who is callous and uncaring, allowing her eight children (by seven different fathers) to grow up almost feral. As the years go by, Kenny (Sam Rockwell) is now a father of a baby girl, a troublemaker who hated by the local police department and Betty (Hilary Swank), a high school dropout and an unemployed mother of two boys.
In 1980, a woman living in a trailer next door to Kenny was stabbed to death, the local police officer Nancy Taylor (Melissa Leo) arrested him and sent to court for trial. Based on the evidence of his blood type and the testimony of his ex-wife Brenda Marsh (Clea DuVall) and his girlfriend Roseanna Perry (Juliette Lewis), Kenny was sentenced to life without probation.
Convinced that her older brother is innocent, Betty spent the next twelve years to complete her elementary school and high-school to go to law school to reopen his case. Challenging the conviction with DNA evidence, with the help of the Innocence Project, she proved her brother's innocence and in March 2001, Kenny finally walked out as a free man after eighteen years in prison.
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| Betty & Kenny Anne Waters |
Convinced that her older brother is innocent, Betty spent the next twelve years to complete her elementary school and high-school to go to law school to reopen his case. Challenging the conviction with DNA evidence, with the help of the Innocence Project, she proved her brother's innocence and in March 2001, Kenny finally walked out as a free man after eighteen years in prison.
Unfortunately, six months after his release from prison on September 6, 2001, Kenny fell from a fifteen feet off a wall while taking a shortcut to his brother's house and died from injuries related to head trauma. His death is not mentioned in the film.
In 2009, the estate of the late Kenneth Waters settled a civil rights lawsuit against the town of Ayer's for three point four million dollars. Today, Betty Anne lives in Bristol, Rhode Island and works to help the Innocence Project to spread the word about wrongful conviction by speaking out her story.
The love of a family is life's greatest blessing.
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