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Presumed Guilty
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Presumed Guilty

12 MIN · EN · STATUS: [ STREAMING ]
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Toño sits in a Mexico City courtroom facing a murder conviction built on no physical evidence, no weapon, and a single accuser who later contradicts himself on camera. Filmmakers Roberto Hernández and Layda Negrete, both trained lawyers, secured rare permission to film Toño's retrial directly, and the courtroom footage carries most of the film: a judge who barely looks up, a prosecutor reciting procedure rather than argument, and police testimony that unravels under cross-examination. Interviews outside the courtroom fill in how Toño ended up charged in the first place, and the film uses his case to lay out, step by step, how confessions get extracted, how convictions get rubber-stamped, and how rarely anyone in the system is required to prove anything. Hernández and Negrete appear on screen as well, since their cameras become part of the story once officials realize they are being watched. The film aired on PBS's POV in 2010. Its case for reform rests entirely on what the camera catches happening inside one trial.