About “Just Mercy”
A powerful and thought-provoking true story, “Just Mercy” follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson (Jordan) and his history-making battle for justice. After graduating from Harvard, Bryan heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned or who were not afforded proper representation, with the support of local advocate Eva Ansley (Larson). One of his first, and most incendiary, cases is that of Walter McMillian (Foxx). In 1987, Walter was sentenced to die for the notorious murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite a preponderance of evidence proving his innocence and the fact that the only testimony against him came from a criminal with a motive to lie. In the years that follow, Bryan becomes embroiled in legal and political maneuverings and overt and unabashed racism as he fights for Walter, and others like him, with the odds—and the system—stacked against them
About Bryan Stevenson
Bryan Stevenson, who has dedicated his life to helping the most vulnerable people at the mercy of our justice system—is the founder and Executive Director of The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a non-profit human rights organization committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, offering proper representation to the poor, the incarcerated and the condemned. Through his work with EJI, Bryan and his staff have won reversals or release from prison for hundreds of wrongly convicted or unfairly sentenced people, including more than 100 who had been facing execution.