Basic Information

MOVIE TITLE: Conviction

DIRECTOR: Tony Goldwyn

YEAR OF RELEASE: 2010

CHAPTER WHICH CONTAINS CLIP:

CLIP START TIME: 43:25

CLIP END TIME: 45:30

CLIP TOTAL RUN TIME: 2:05

Note: Times can vary depending on which player you're using to show clips. It's always a good idea to verify start and end times before class.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SCENE: Law students gather to work together on a research project. One students mentions a case where DNA evidence was used post-trial and conviction to prove innocence. 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Summary from IMDB, "Betty Anne Waters (Swank) is a high school dropout who spent nearly two decades working as a single mother while putting herself through law school, tirelessly trying to beat the system and overturn her brother's (Rockwell) unjust murder conviction."

LEGAL CONCEPT OR RESEARCH TECHNIQUE CLIP ILLUSTRATES: Citating (keyciting or shepardizing). It would be useful to play this clip as an introduction to citating. After showing the clip, the instructor can pose the question about how the law student, played by Hillary Swank, found the "49 other cases like this" that she had.  This clip can also be used to introduce the concept of finding one good case, or how a researcher can find other cases once she finds one good case. Finally, the clip can be used to demonstrate the research process in general: using a case, then a secondary source to research a concept in the case (in this case DNA evidence), and then using a citator to find more cases.  

Additional Information 

OTHER WAYS THIS CLIP COULD BE USED: 

OTHER CLIPS WITH WHICH SCENE COULD BE PAIRED: Marcia Clark Shepard's