My First Documentary, My First Subpoena: Part Two

When we last left our hero…

I was standing in the hallway of the courthouse talking to one of the prosecutors I was following when I was hit with a subpoena in a murder trial.

A Quick Recap.

Sometime around 1984 I decided to make a documentary/educational film about the criminal justice system. I eventually followed three cases through the court system, a robbery, a rape, and a homicide. The goal was to follow both sides of these cases to their eventual conclusions. I attempted to get permission from both sides in each case. Only in the robbery case did both sides agree. The defense declined participation in the rape case, so I filmed that case from just the one side.

If you want more details on how I got here check out last week’s installment.

We have all seen the television shows and movies about noble defense attorneys, like Perry Mason, and so many others and how the prosecutors are the ones with slimy motives. We are lead to believe that defense attorneys are working to make sure the defendants rights are not violated. What you soon find out is, a lot of these defense attorneys just want to win. They don’t give a shit about guilt, innocence, or the truth, it’s all about beating the other attorney.

In the murder case, I spent time talking to the defense attorney in person about my film. I explained my goals with the film and was seeking her participation.

She eventually left me a voice message declining to participate. After thinking things over, and speaking to the prosecutor in this case, I decided to move forward in the same way I had with the rape case, covering just the one side. Not ideal, but I felt it was important to at least show some of the process.

I sat through jury selection. I nodded at the defense attorney when she saw me in court, making sure to be seen so she wouldn’t think I was trying to pull something over on her, or the courts. It wasn’t until the trial actually started that the defense attorney came after me with a subpoena.

After I was subpoenaed, I asked my Sister for help/advice, as she was a Deputy DA at the time. Did she have any ideas on who I could hire to help me with this. She told me she’d get back to me and then found out the person she wanted to recommended was already working with the defense attorney so he wouldn’t help.

I ended up hiring a really nice attorney. Don was really nice and very knowledgable.

I will never hire nice again.

In court I obviously had to get on the stand and tell the judge what I was doing. Once again I was up front about all of it, including that I had met in person with the defense attorney at the beginning of all this, trying to get her permission to show her side. I said she was aware of what I was doing.

First off, the judge was pissed that I was making a film about a “live case”. It just wasn’t done she told me. How dare I? Even thought I explained I was trying to cover everything from both sides.

Of course I was nervous, bordering on scared-to-death. I had shot all of this film and committed all of this time and money and to have it shut down was a real concern. What was going to happen? Would I end up in jail? This is stuff they don’t teach you in film school.

It was agonizing.

The reason this was happening at this point was, I had filmed a segment where the prosecutor was interviewing one of the main witnesses to the shooting. They walked through what happened the night of the murder. The prosecutor let this witness know what was going to happen in court when they got on the stand and to take their time and answer everything correctly to the best of their ability. There was no coaching, he was just trying to prepare the witness for the realities of the court room.

Our only interaction while filming this segment was when we had to slate so that audio and picture would be running at the same speed. We used a clapboard at the end of conversations so that we wouldn’t interrupt what was going on between the prosecutor and the witness.

The defense attorney wanted that footage to see if there was anything she could use to get her client off. So she went after access to everything I shot.

When it came time for the defense attorney to address the court, she basically said that yes, I had spoken with her earlier, and she had declined to participate. She also said under oath, that even though I had been sitting in the courtroom for the last week and change, she didn’t recognize me. She had no idea who I was.

One of the bailiffs, who I didn’t know, took one look at me and shook his head “no.”. In his mind, there was no way she didn’t recognize me.

But of course the judge sided with the attorney who wasn’t telling the truth.

I quickly learned another lesson. It didn’t matter that I spoke the truth, the attorney was believed.

The prosecutor sat through all of this. He supported me and my claims. My own lawyer did his best but like I said, he was nice.

NICE doesn’t belong in court.

I was told by the court that the newspaper shield laws didn’t apply to me because I was a documentary filmmaker, not a journalist.

What quickly became obvious was, that the judge wanted me and my film to go away. She wanted to give full access to all of my film, but my attorney fought back hard on this and eventually it was decided that she could only have access to the single interview with the eye-witness.

Under orders from the court, I showed the footage to the defense attorney. There was nothing she could use from the interview to discredit the witness, as everything the witness had said was consistent with the police reports and every other interview he had given.

She then suggested to her partner (who was present at the screening) that maybe she could show part of the interview, with the camera/audio slate to show that this was somehow some “Hollywood production” and try and discredit the eye-witness that way. Her partner quickly reminded her that if she introduced anything from my interview then the Prosecutor could introduce the entire interview which would absolutely discredit the defense’s claim.

That was the end of that. The case moved forward.

I still followed the murder case all the way through trial and used it in my film. It was legal for me to film in the court house, just not in the courtroom. I still had cooperation from the prosecutor and the victim’s family. The judge and the defense attorney couldn’t stop me from continuing.

I did not include any of my participation/subpoena in the final film. It was never my intention to include myself into any of the cases.

It took about two years after I completed filming to finally finish the film. Most of that had to do with raising the money to complete it.

Criminal Justice is nearly 40 years old and is still being used in schools. It is unfortunate to me, that we still have a lot of the same issues. So little has changed since I made the film, it almost feels like no one wants to improve the system.

But what do I know?

If you’d like to see Criminal Justice, it is available to stream on my website for a mere $3.99. Here is the link…

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/criminaljustice

Angry Filmmaker Rants

Concerning the news of Lindsey Graham’s death out of South Carolina today, July 12, 2026. - “I have never killed anyone, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction.” - Clarence Darrow.

Thank you for reading, subscribing, and supporting me and my writing and filmmaking.

Remember, if you don’t like what I’m writing these days then unsubscribe. And don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Here is a link to to me reading an excerpt from my story, Incident At Arrah Wanna. About the time I got busted at church camp for smoking pot. I was fourteen and not much of a role model, even back then. It’s only 4 minutes. Please check it out.

https://vimeo.com/803227061?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci

Don’t let the bastards get to you!

Please Support Independent Artists! Even the crazy ones.

Check out my books, as well as my films, or Angry Filmmaker merchandise on my site. www.angryfilmmaker.com

Follow me on Substack - https://substack.com/@kelleybakerangryfilmmaker

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/angryfilmmaker/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/kelley.baker