The Thin Blue Line 1988 - David Harris - Dallas Morning News - The New York Times -
16,598. On the way home I ran out of gas. (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) The Thin Blue Line 1988 starring Randall Adams & David Harris & Gus Rose & Jackie Johnson et al, director Errol Morris, music Philip Glass; Randall Adams interview
16,599. The day they picked me up – December 21st – they took me upstairs; what floor I don’t know. But they put me in a little room. Gus Rose walked in. He had a confession there he wanted me to sign. (Miscarriages of Justice & Police & Murder) ibid.
16,600. He came back in ten minutes and put a pistol on the table. Asked me to look at it, which I did – I looked. He asked me to pick it up. (Miscarriages of Justice & Police & Murder) ibid.
16,601. He pulled his service revolver at me. (Miscarriages of Justice & Police & Murder) ibid.
16,602. He [David Harris] said, ‘Hey, I’m just bragging about this – I didn’t do it; but I was there, and I know who did do it.’ (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid. interviewee
16,603. They kept me completely away from everybody. (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid. Randall
16,604. They had a twenty-eight-year-old man; the only alternative would be prosecuting a sixteen-year-old who could not be given the death penalty under Texas law. (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid. female lawyer interviewee
16,605. They are scum ... Nobody has that kind of eyesight. (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid. woman of witness couple
16,606. The Dallas District Attorney’s Office sent psychiatrists into the defendant’s cell to discover whether he is without remorse and therefore is a dangerous and psychopathic personality ... Holbrook and Grigson: the killer shrinks ... Whenever they showed up, the purpose of their visit was to kill the defendant. (Miscarriages of Justice & Psychiatrists & Murder) ibid. Randall
16,607. He testified – Grigson – that if the future seriousness of my mental states would be such that if they released me I would go crazy and butcher half of Dallas country ... He talked to me fifteen minutes; he is crazy. (Miscarriages of Justice & Psychiatrists & Murder) ibid.
16,608. I believe that David Harris committed murder; the jury looked at the same evidence and found they believed Randall Adams committed the murder. (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid. male attorney interviewee
16,609. Randall Adams is serving a life sentence in Eastham Unit, Lovelady, Texas. David Harris is on Death Row, Ellis Unit, Huntsville, Texas, for the murder in 1985 of Mark Walter Mays. It has been over eleven years since the murder of Dallas Police Officer Robert Wood. (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) ibid.
16,610. I’m sure he is [innocent]. ’Cause I’m the one that knows. (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) David Harris, interview 5th December 1986
16,611. Officer’s killer sought: Five shots fired from car hit policeman. (Murder & Miscarriages of Justice) Dallas Morning News 29th November 1976
16,612. Randall Dale Adams, who spent 12 years in prison before his conviction in the murder of a Dallas police officer was thrown out largely on the basis of evidence uncovered by a filmmaker, died in obscurity in October in Washington Court House, Ohio. He was 61.
Randall Adams was featured in the film The Thin Blue Line.
Mr Adams had chosen to live a quiet life divorced from his past, and when he died on Oct 30 2010 of a brain tumor, the death was reported only locally, said his lawyer, Randy Schaffer. The death was first widely reported on Friday.
The film that proved so crucial to Mr Adams was The Thin Blue Line, directed by Errol Morris and released in 1988. It told a harrowing story, and it had the effect of helping to bring about Mr Adams’s release the following year. (Miscarriages of Justice & Police & Murder) The New York Times article 26th September 2011 Douglas Martin