An excellent documentary that not only explores the predicament in which a young man finds himself in after he's accused of a crime he claims he did not commit; but a film which also explores the awkwardness of the Mexican judicial system.
Presumed Guilty explores the logic behind Mexico's core due process: All suspects are considered guilty until prove'n innocent. The main character in this film finds himself trapped in this principle. He's arrested by the police, immediately charge with murder and subsequently tried and found guilty for the crime.
The film doesn't really explore whether Toño (the defendant) is guilty or not, as we (the audience) are told from the beginning of the film that he is innocent- not only does he claim to be innocent but there is no credible evidence or witnesses proving "without a shadow of a doubt" that he committed the crime. The pro bono lawyers in charge of Toño's case find themselves in a web of irregularities as they analyze the details behind his arrest, trial and conviction. Upon carefully scrutinizing the who's and what's, they come upon the fact that the public defendant who took Toño's first trial did not have a real license to practice and because of this, they were able to request a new trial.
As they prepare for a new trial, we discover that there is a short window of opportunity for the defense to prepare their case, in fact, we further learn that the defense has really no case to prepare as there will be no trial in the broad sense and this is when the documentary takes its awful turn at exposing the absurdity of the Mexican trial system. As some may know, there is no case law in Mexico and no trial by jury, so to say, as we are used to in the United States. In fact, many Mexican viewers find American crime investigation and police procedural and legal dramas such as Law and Order so fascinating because of their nonexistent nature in Mexican criminal and legal culture- both in real life and fiction.
So as the documentary progresses, we learn that this new trial is simply a review of the previous trial. There will be no new witnesses, no new evidence, no new testimonies, or alibis, or the such. Based on the same witnesses, same testimonies, and same evidence that was used to convict Toño the first time, the same judge who presided the first trial will again decide whether to overturn Toño's conviction or sentence him to the same or more amount of years.
As the circus begins, we realize that first of all the courtroom is not a courtroom at all, it is a cramped office with desks, computers, and tons of paperwork with office employees going about their business. This office has a cage where the defendant remains locked in. The trial review begins with the arresting officers who took Toño into custody the day of the murder. They are questioned on several aspects of the events that took place that day including how they came upon to arresting Toño as the murder suspect, these men simply reply that these events took place a long time ago and cannot remember and therefore are quickly dismissed. Later on, the only accusing witness is brought in and he explains how he knows Toño is the murderer because he saw Toño with the murder weapon at an earlier time and when police described what weapon was used in the crime, he was able to pinpoint Toño as the shooting suspect, he nonetheless states that he never actually saw Toño shooting the victim.
An interesting turn that this "mock trial" takes is when they do what is called "el careo" or the face-off. "El careo" is when both the defendant who literally remains locked behind bars, faces off with the arresting officers and accusing witness. At this time he has an opportunity to only question what was recorded on the original trial such as "why did you state that I am the killer?" or he questions the arresting officer "what did you tell me when I asked you what I was being accused of?", the officer replies "I arrest people all the time and cannot remember every event that takes place." The defendant then proceeds to say "may I refresh your memory and remind you that what you said is 'we have YOU in custody and so you're f*cked'."
After the retrial, if we can call it so, Toño is told by some office clerk, that he was again found guilty of murder and sentenced again to 20-something years in prison, he is then given a paper copy of his sentence as to "keep this receipt in your records as proof that you have been found guilty of murder and sentenced to more than 20 years in prison."
There is a lot of loopholes in the system the film does not cover simply because it focuses on the main character's quest for justice, rather than what is wrong with the system; however, the film does give a good insight of how upside down the legal system is in Mexico. This documentary may not do a lot to fix what is wrong in Mexico but it is a start in bringing awareness to the Mexican people that they can have a better Mexico and hopefully a lot more films like this, exposing the different issues Mexico faces today, will surface and perhaps one day things will be different.
Watch the film, it is worth it.
Presumed Guilty explores the logic behind Mexico's core due process: All suspects are considered guilty until prove'n innocent. The main character in this film finds himself trapped in this principle. He's arrested by the police, immediately charge with murder and subsequently tried and found guilty for the crime.
The film doesn't really explore whether Toño (the defendant) is guilty or not, as we (the audience) are told from the beginning of the film that he is innocent- not only does he claim to be innocent but there is no credible evidence or witnesses proving "without a shadow of a doubt" that he committed the crime. The pro bono lawyers in charge of Toño's case find themselves in a web of irregularities as they analyze the details behind his arrest, trial and conviction. Upon carefully scrutinizing the who's and what's, they come upon the fact that the public defendant who took Toño's first trial did not have a real license to practice and because of this, they were able to request a new trial.
As they prepare for a new trial, we discover that there is a short window of opportunity for the defense to prepare their case, in fact, we further learn that the defense has really no case to prepare as there will be no trial in the broad sense and this is when the documentary takes its awful turn at exposing the absurdity of the Mexican trial system. As some may know, there is no case law in Mexico and no trial by jury, so to say, as we are used to in the United States. In fact, many Mexican viewers find American crime investigation and police procedural and legal dramas such as Law and Order so fascinating because of their nonexistent nature in Mexican criminal and legal culture- both in real life and fiction.
So as the documentary progresses, we learn that this new trial is simply a review of the previous trial. There will be no new witnesses, no new evidence, no new testimonies, or alibis, or the such. Based on the same witnesses, same testimonies, and same evidence that was used to convict Toño the first time, the same judge who presided the first trial will again decide whether to overturn Toño's conviction or sentence him to the same or more amount of years.
As the circus begins, we realize that first of all the courtroom is not a courtroom at all, it is a cramped office with desks, computers, and tons of paperwork with office employees going about their business. This office has a cage where the defendant remains locked in. The trial review begins with the arresting officers who took Toño into custody the day of the murder. They are questioned on several aspects of the events that took place that day including how they came upon to arresting Toño as the murder suspect, these men simply reply that these events took place a long time ago and cannot remember and therefore are quickly dismissed. Later on, the only accusing witness is brought in and he explains how he knows Toño is the murderer because he saw Toño with the murder weapon at an earlier time and when police described what weapon was used in the crime, he was able to pinpoint Toño as the shooting suspect, he nonetheless states that he never actually saw Toño shooting the victim.
An interesting turn that this "mock trial" takes is when they do what is called "el careo" or the face-off. "El careo" is when both the defendant who literally remains locked behind bars, faces off with the arresting officers and accusing witness. At this time he has an opportunity to only question what was recorded on the original trial such as "why did you state that I am the killer?" or he questions the arresting officer "what did you tell me when I asked you what I was being accused of?", the officer replies "I arrest people all the time and cannot remember every event that takes place." The defendant then proceeds to say "may I refresh your memory and remind you that what you said is 'we have YOU in custody and so you're f*cked'."
After the retrial, if we can call it so, Toño is told by some office clerk, that he was again found guilty of murder and sentenced again to 20-something years in prison, he is then given a paper copy of his sentence as to "keep this receipt in your records as proof that you have been found guilty of murder and sentenced to more than 20 years in prison."
There is a lot of loopholes in the system the film does not cover simply because it focuses on the main character's quest for justice, rather than what is wrong with the system; however, the film does give a good insight of how upside down the legal system is in Mexico. This documentary may not do a lot to fix what is wrong in Mexico but it is a start in bringing awareness to the Mexican people that they can have a better Mexico and hopefully a lot more films like this, exposing the different issues Mexico faces today, will surface and perhaps one day things will be different.
Watch the film, it is worth it.