In 1998 the Santa Barbara Public Defenders Office conducted a poll of its staff to obtain recommendations of films which best capture the public defender professional world. Forty some films were nominated. The top ten and honorable mentions are given below. Truman Capote's retelling of a true murder from the heart of America. The film has a newsreel like accuracy and feeling of voyeurism.
Attorney fights community outrage to successfully defend the client.
After years of imprisonment, old men are released to a society they do not know. Effectively demonstrates the absurdity of our penal system. The story of the critical case in the growth of the public defender movement. A simple man writes a letter to the Supreme Court of the United States and changes legal history. A true story.