Such a frustrating disappointment

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

After watching this documentary twice on Amazon Prime, I just was overwhelmed by the injustice done to Ms. Peagler. As a lawyer with over 40 years of experience as a federal prosecutor and defense attorney, I cannot adequately express in words the admiration I have for these two pro bono attorneys, Ms. Costa and Mr. Safran, and their courage to fight for her to right the wrong, their passion in diving into an area of the law that neither of them had experience in, their intelligence in figuring out the various avenues for challenging the unconstitutionality of her conviction, their compassion in hearing and understanding Ms. Peagler, and their fearlessness and tenacity in fighting the corrupt L. A. DA's Office, which suppressed material evidence favorable to Ms. Peagler's defense bearing on her innocence of the crime charged. The documentary filmmaker, Mr. Potash, did an incredible job too in putting the documentary together in such a polished manner, synopsizing years of legal wrangling into an hour and a half documentary, it was just riveting to watch. It's clearly one of the finest documentaries I have ever seen. These lawyers are true heroes and exemplify the highest standards of professionalism as lawyers, and the filmmaker deserves high praise for an uncompromising examination of injustice done to a victim of severe domestic violence whose abuser's death she really took no part in yet received a life sentence due to the corruption of the criminal justice system in California. I cannot recommend this film too highly, it's that good!

I couldn't stop the tears that was in my eyes.... Just watched the True story of Deborah Peagler "Crime After Crime", bought tears to my eyes... This woman was so strong to endure what the Justice System put her through even after they had all the evidence that she was abused by her abusive boyfriend. All I can say is Steve Cooley shame on you and the Justice System. I'd recommend all womens that are going through any type of abuse to watch this movie. Ms. Deborah was a very strong woman. And we must also give credit to her Lawyers; they never gave up on her case. She's living in Peace. I'm just happy she was able to spend her remaining days with her family.

This is simply a riveting and intensely moving documentary on an important subject. It was shot over a period of years, and the true story takes unexpected turns; I was reminded of Hoop Dreams. Perhaps I'm biased because I've had first-hand experience with out horribly flawed justice system*, so let's just say that if you are interested in the subject, you *have* to see this. I saw 17 documentaries that were released in 2011, and it was a great year for them. I'm a ferociously tough grader; an 8 is an A- grade. Pina earned a 10 (A+) for its use of 3D, Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead earned a 9 (A) for being life-changing, and this led the 8's ahead of Bill Cunningham New York, If a Tree Falls, and We Were Here. The 7's (equivalent to a B+ grade) were Project Nim, The Interrupters, Into The Abyss, and Senna. If you see a lot of docs, that should give you an idea of just how good I thought this was. See it!* My roommate was convicted of a crime after my exonerating testimony was thrown out by a judge's egregious error. The verdict was overturned unanimously on appeal, but not until he'd spent nearly two years in prison.

I can't understand the low IMDb rating. Since there are no bad reviews posted here as of April '12, I can't speculate as to why I see a 5.7 rating. Irregardless of the political or legal viewpoint one might develop of the particular case in question, this is a well made film. Though I can't imagine anyone would question the fact that this film documents an INCREDIBLE miscarriage of justice.Although come to think of it, I can imagine a scenario in which the L.A. District Attorney's office sent a super-secret memo to its staff demanding that all employees log on to IMDb and give it one star...If you are a fan of compelling legal documentaries à la "Murder on a Sunday Morning", "Paradise Lost". "The Trials of Darryl Hunt" or "The Thin Blue Line", you will absolutely love this one. All the elements are here: DA misconduct, Interesting plot turns, recanting witnesses, dedicated and interesting attorneys... you name it.This is great drama.