No tomorrow

Description

No Tomorrow focuses on the murder of Risa Bejarano, the principal subject of Aging Out, an earlier film about teenagers leaving foster care. No Tomorrow explores how Aging Out unexpectedly documented the last year of Risa's life, and became the centerpiece of a chilling homicide investigation and death penalty trial. Juan Jose Chavez went on trial in 2007, in Los Angeles Superior Court in front of Judge Lance Ito, who had become famous for presiding over the O.J. Simpson trial. In one of the trial's most dramatic moments, the district attorney showed Aging Out in order to humanize the victim and convince the jury to impose the death penalty. While the trial focuses on whether Risa's murderer deserves to die, several leading death penalty experts address the broader question of whether the state should be empowered to kill him. Ultimately, the unique film-within-a-film perspective of No Tomorrow takes viewers inside a suspenseful death penalty trial and challenges beliefs about capital punishment.

Runtime

56 min

Creator

Weisberg, Roger

Subjects

Geography

Genre

Date of Publication

2010

Database

Alexander Street

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