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The Julius Jones Last Defense Panel at The Capital City Black Film Festival

9/4/2018

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On Friday, August 30th in Austin, Texas at the Capital City Black Film Festival, The Last Defense screened all Julius Jones episodes of the series along with a Q&A after the show featuring panelists Vanessa Potkin, Aida Leisenring, Amani Martin, Andrew Wang, Jimmy Lawson and Amanda Bass. Courtney Robinson, the founder and executive director of The Excellence in Advancement Foundation, moderated the discussion.
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Along with the panelists, members of Julius Jones’ family were also in attendance in the audience (seen above.)

Before the panel began, they played audio from Julius sending his gratitude and also reading of a poem.
PictureCourtney Robinson, Vanessa Potkin, Aida Leisenring, Amani Martin, Andrew Wang, Jimmy Lawson and Amanda Bass
Here are some highlights from the panel:

Jimmy Lawson said Julius is getting 75 to 100 letters a day which is giving him a hope and a different mindset and outlook since the show has aired.

A hearing has been set for September 7th regarding testing of the red bandana.

Courtney began the panel by asking Vanessa and Aida what inspired them to create The Last Defense. Vanessa said that there was a study in The National Institute of Justice that came out in 2014 said that stated that 4.1% of people on death row are actually innocent - that significantly a large number of people on death row today are innocent but that the system doesn’t always get it right and that there’s always another side of the story.

Courtney then asked Head of Television for Juvee Productions, Andrew Wang, what Juvee’s approach to this particular project and what moved them about this production. Wang answered that Viola (Davis) and Julius (Tennon) wanted to be a voice for the voiceless and they wanted to allow the people on death row to share their voice to humanize their situation.
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Aida Leisenring, Amani Martin, Andrew Wang (Juvee Productions), Jimmy Lawson
Amani Martin said that his approach to filming this story was being inspired from musical documentaries on Netflix because their narratives are told by audio tapes and images because a lot of those subjects have passed away, so the story is told in images and in Julius’ case, even though they were hopeful in the beginning that they would be able to film Juilus, they knew that they could tell his story even though ended up not being able to film him physically, they could tell his story in the same way those aforementioned documentaries were told.

When asked about her experience with death penalty cases, Amanda Bass answered, “I worked for a year at a small non-profit in Montgomery, Alabama doing capital post-conviction work… What we do, when we get a case in a federal Habeas proceeding, is to aggressively investigate, number one. Often times, federal courts review is limited to the record that prior council made in state courts — and so, we’re relying on what that record looks like but we’re also trying to take apart a case and contact witnesses anew and see if there’s any information that might shed light on the reliability of a person’s guilt or of the propriety of a death sentence. we put that into a federal habeas petition and we hope that the court will grant a request for an evidentiary hearing for fact development so we can further bolster our claims that this person was sentenced or convicted in violation of their federal constitutional rights. Review is quite limited because of a statute called, ‘The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act,’ which makes it really, really hard for people sentenced to death to get federal court to take seriously and look at the merits of their claims so we hope that a court on appeal will take those claims seriously but again, the hurdles are profound and relief is really, really limited, by the time a death penalty case gets to us.”

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Bass also spoke about the petitions filed, and denied, all the way up to the Supreme Court — She revealed that, after several more denials, a week after the last episode aired, they recalled their mandate and decided to reconsider the case.

Lawson said that if he were in Julius’ shoes, he would want someone to advocate for him, stating, “I if were him and he were me, I would want someone to be a voice for me if I were in his predicament, so I told Amani, ‘I’m going to do what I'm going to do, whatever you want me to do, let’s do it.’” 


When asked, ‘What can the audience do?’ Jimmy says, you can flood the mailboxes and emails of the Governor and court of appeals in the state of Oklahoma, ‘because the more they hear about it the more something has to happen.’

Jimmy says he is trying to pack the courthouse for the September 7th hearing to bring as much exposure as possible. 

You can find out more information at JusticeForJulius.com

The entire panel audio is available below:
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  • Home
  • Celebs
    • Celebs: 2018 >
      • Flashback to When Timothée Chalamet Took a Pic with Kiernan Shipka's Dog, Frankie
      • Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet Spotted Filming Little Women in Back Bay
      • Nancy Barbato Sinatra Has Died at Age 101
      • Saoirse Ronan Graces NYFW with Rami Malek and Jake Gyllenhaal
      • Lauren Graham Gives Away Free Autographed Books Every Friday -- Here's How to Win!
      • Sandra Bullock & Bryan Randall Back in Austin for the 4th
      • Tom Holland and Saoirse Ronan Hanging Out in London
  • film
  • TV
  • FESTIVALS
    • Wizard World Virtual Experiences is bringing Charmed, Family Ties and Henry Winkler in May!
    • Henry Winkler Gives an Inspiring 'Law of Attraction' Speech at Wizard World Austin
    • Wizard World Austin 2019 Disney Trivia with Thomas Ian Nicholas and Samm Levine
    • 2019 Texas Monthly BBQ Festival Review
    • SXSW The Highwaymen and Booksmart Red Carpet Photos
    • Good Omens at SXSW
    • Natalie Portman Vox Lux Austin Film Festival Premiere
    • Beyond the Night Austin Film Festival Premiere
    • Capital City Black Film Festival Coverage 2018 >
      • Photos from The Capital City Black Film Festival
      • The Last Defense Panel at the Capital City Black Film Festival
      • Leon Describes How He Can Be a Member of the Resistance & Not Let Current Events Get Him Down
    • Small Town Crime SXSW Premiere
    • James Lafferty, Stephen Colletti and Michelle Lang are Doing Great
    • Hot Summer Nights Red Carpet Interviews with Timothée Chalamet, Maika Monroe, Maia Mitchell and Alex Roe
  • ETC
    • Beto O'Rourke Cedar Park Town Hall
    • The Stranger Things Corn Maze at Exploration Acres Opens September 14th
    • Rosie O’Donnell and 60 Broadway Stars to Occupy Lafayette Park August 6th
  • Around ATX
    • Tom Welling Shops and the Smallville Cast Discuss Their Favorite Teachers at Wizard World Austin
    • The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is November 3rd
    • Jason Momoa Added to Wizard World Austin Comic Con
    • Matthew McConaughey Sings 'Alright, Alright, Alright,' with Jack Ingram
    • Game of Thrones at SXSW Activation
    • Merry Mix Show 2018
    • Timothée Chalamet & Nic Sheff Austin Beautiful Boy Q&A
    • Robert Rodriguez Hosts Beto O'Rourke at His 'Blank Check' Austin Home
    • Texas Tribune Festival 2018 Coverage >
      • Watch: The Lights Went Out on Richard Painter at #TribFest18, He Kept Rolling Unfazed
      • Michael Avenatti Says Donald Trump is Brilliant About These 5 Things
      • Tom Perez Says Kavanaugh 'Does Not Have the Temperament' to be on the Supreme Court
      • John Kerry Says the 'Fix is In' Regarding Kavanaugh, Taxes and Health Care
      • Michael Avenatti Discusses his Client Julie Swetnick at the Texas Tribune Festival
    • Wizard World Austin Comic Con >
      • Austin Comic Con Schedule Announcement
      • Peter Capaldi Shops a Booth at Wizard World Austin & More Pics From Day One
      • Danny Trejo Gives Advice & Calls Robert Rodriguez at Wizard World Austin
      • Day Two of Wizard World Austin Comic Con
      • Disney Trivia at Wizard World Austin
      • Holly Marie Combs and Charisma Carpenter Charm the Crowd During the Women of Pop Culture Panel at Wizard World Austin
      • More Photos of Peter Capaldi Shopping at Wizard World Austin
  • Contact
  • More
    • Cloris Leachman Spent her 93rd Birthday with Tom Arnold & Jennifer Tilly
    • Video: Rami Malek Falls Off the Oscars Stage
    • A Fan Shared What it was Like Sitting Next to Timothee Chalamet During a 3 Hour Flight
    • Rosie O'Donnell Offers Tickets to Two Men Who Screamed at Mike Pence at The Music Man Performance in DC
    • More 2018 >
      • Justin Theroux Takes New Dog Kuma to Casey Neistat & Candice Pool's Billy! Popup
      • Nancy Sinatra, Christina Perri and Rosie O'Donnell ask #WhereAreTheGirls
      • Timothée Chalamet Poses with Fans in Budapest
      • Rosie O'Donnell Hosts After Party for Richard Painter in Midtown Manhattan
      • Everything On Netflix, Hulu and Amazon in December
      • Kathy Griffin and Stormy Daniels Discuss Melania's Jacket - Then Give Trump the Finger