Documentary on David Robinson to be released on Amazon Prime

Filmmaker Steve Turner’s documentary “The Past is Never Dead” on the exoneration of David Robinson for the 2001 murder of Sheila Box will premiere on Amazon Prime on May 17, Turner announced Monday.

Robinson was convicted in 2001 of the Sikeston, Missouri, murder of Box on the word of two jailhouse informants who later recanted.

Turner’s feature documentary details Robinson’s nearly 18-year struggle to prove his innocence — and the devastating effects wrongful convictions have on not just the falsely accused, but on their family and community, Turner said.

“We’re hoping, David and I, to do speaking engagements and screenings, question-and-answer sessions, at universities, law schools, organizations that have an interest in the subject matter,” Turner said. “We are eager to tell his story.”

Added Turner, “What I found surprising about the whole endeavor is the lack of chances an innocent person has at getting a hearing.”

The sheer volume of cases a court can be inundated with in a year is “astounding,” Turner said — up to several thousand a year, according to one attorney he’d spoken with.

“The numbers are not in the innocent’s favor,” Turner said.

In his director’s statement, Turner said, “Of course there have been hundreds of films and programs about paid criminal informants, police coercion, the overwhelmed public defender system and the inundated appeals courts, but to experience a story where all these issues come together in such an open and public way is extraordinary. The idea that a person is able to prove his innocence and still be kept in prison is why ‘The Past is Never Dead’ exists.”

Earlier this month, Robinson filed a lawsuit against the City of Sikeston, alleging multiple examples of witness intimidation, conspiracy and several direct and indirect actions over a decade leading to the wrongful conviction and continued incarceration in the case.

These actions kept Robinson in prison for 17 years prior to his exoneration.

More information on Robinson’s story is at www.semissourian.com/lifewithout.

Turner’s documentary will be available for streaming, purchase or rent on Amazon Prime on May 17.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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