Speaking of true-crime documentaries, have you ever seen the HBO Paradise Lost movie? Very good account of the railroading of three teenagers in West Memphis, AR, for the murder of three young boys. They're showing it quite a lot lately, along with its new sequel.
Both movies are very long (2½ hours each), and could have stood a bit of trimming, but I'd highly recommend them nonetheless, as a case study in just how mob mentality, piss-poor police work, and sensationalist media coverage can ruin three lives on no physical evidence whatsoever. One of the kids got life+40 years (I think), one got life w/out parole, and the supposed ringleader, Damien Echols, got death. He has used up his last appeal (on the same judge who sent him to prison in the first place, which says it all about the sort of "fair trial" they received), and will likely be executed later this year.
At any rate, the advocacy of the film is obvious, but so is one horrible fact -- there is far more evidence pointing to the stepfather of the most brutally murdered child than to any of the three teens convicted of the crime. These kids got hammered on a shoestring of a case. Very ugly story, and rather frustrating to watch at times.
