Convicted

**Convicted** is a television movie that aired on ABC on May 12, 1986, detailing the true story of Doug Forbes who was falsely accused of multiple rapes and sentenced to sixty years in prison. It was written by Jonathan B. Rintels, Jr., and directed by David Lowell Rich.

Jenny Lewis played Shelley Forbes, the daughter of the main characters played by Lindsay Wagner and John Larroquette. She was nominated for "Exceptional Performance by a Young Actress Starring in a TV Special or Movie of the Week" at the 8th Annual Youth in Film Awards in 1986, but lost to Roxana Zal for the CBS Schoolbreak Special, "God, The Universe, and Hot Fudge Sundaes".

## Plot

As a serial rapist terrorizes the town of Johnson City, Tennessee, mailman Douglas Forbes checks himself into a veterans psychiatric hospital to deal with his schizophrenia. When two victims falsely identify Doug as the rapist, he is arrested. The town pitches in to bail him out, but another rape occurs while he’s free and he’s again arrested. After he’s convicted by two juries and sentenced to sixty years in prison, his wife Martha is forced to struggle to survive raising four kids amid a town that demonizes her. Unable to cope with the ridicule, their daughter Shelley become rebellious and begins lying to her teachers about how she’s treated at home. Without financial support from the family, Martha gets a job at a steakhouse and the family has to move to another house.

When the rapist strikes again, Martha and Doug’s lawyer Tom Cowan plead with district attorney Lewis May to help free Doug, but May is convinced he got the right man. Doug begins to lose hope and asks Martha for a divorce so she can let go, but she refuses to give up on him.

During another rape, the victim is able to remove the rapists watch in the struggle, which prompts a police search. The rapist, Donley, turns himself in and confesses to all of the rapes, including the ones that sent Doug to prison. Donley leads May to the crime scenes as proof that he committed the rapes. Martha pleads with May to find hard evidence to free her husband, so he has an old crime scene fingerprint checked against Donley's and it comes back a match. May goes to North Carolina to talk with Ms. Delany, one of the victims who testified against Doug, and manages to convince her that they made a mistake and to sign a statement to that effect for the governor.

After five years in prison, Douglas Forbes is pardoned and his record is cleared. He goes home to his family.

A text crawl informs that Doug Forbes was awarded a large settlement from the state, Martha became the manager of the steakhouse, and Lewis May gave up his position as district attorney after successfully prosecuting Donley.

## Cast

* Lindsay Wagner as Martha Lou Forbes
* Carroll O'Connor as Lewis May
* John Larroquette as Douglas "Doug" Forbes
* Laurie O'Brien as Ms. Delaney
* Caitlin O'Heaney as Mrs. Latkin
* Burton Gilliam as Lt. Nance
* Jenny Lewis as Shelley Forbes
* Alyson Croft as Yolanda Forbes
* Gabriel Damon as Joel Forbes
* Jaime McEnnan as Lance Forbes
* Charles Bartlett as Porter Forbes
* Patricia Gaul as Norma Forbes
* Glen Morrissey as Klennard Forbes
* Claire Malis as Mrs. Russ
* Gary Grubbs as Tom Cowan
* Sharon Barr as Terri Harter
* Josh Cadman as Brady
* Paul Comi as Preacher Soames
* Bert Remsen as 1st trial judge
* Chip Heller as Marshall T. Donley
* Wanda Von Kleist as Mrs. Alcott
* Grace Weston as caseworker
* Nancy Abramson as checker
* Christopher Roberts as Buddy Reynolds
* Michael J. London as prison officer #4
* Gloria Hillard as TV news reporter
* Stewart Bradley as 2nd trial judge
* Christopher Johnson as teasing boy
* Hank Underwood as reporter #2
* Jeanine Jackson as reporter #1
* Delane Vaughn as reporter #3
* Patrick Culliton as prison officer #1
* Barry Laws as reporter #4
* Sandy Brown Wyeth as reporter #5
* Michael D'Agosta as reporter #6
* Ronnie Slavis as reporter #7
* J. Lee Ballew as parole board chairman
* Michael Moore as bailiff
* Steve Danton as short prisoner
* Peter Rich as line-up guard
* Manny Perry as V.A. attendant
* Mike Scott as guard #2
* Tony Swartz as foreman
* Allen Michael Lerner as stuntman
* Richard Warlock as stuntman

## Music

* Jenny plucks a few strings on an acoustic guitar before singing the Christmas carol "Silent Night". Aside from singing in TV commercials, this is the earliest musical performance of Jenny's. She would later perform in *Life With Lucy*: "Lucy Is a Sax Symbol" (saxophone) and "Lucy and Curtis Up a Tree".

## Production

* The movie was filmed in the Santa Clarita area on 35 mm film.
* Many of the crew appeared in the film, including J. Lee Ballew (first assistant director), Steve Danton (second assistant director) and Peter Rich (location manager)
* Defense attorney Tom Cowan (played by Gary Grubbs in the film) served as a technical consultant.

## Home Video

1989 VHS (UK)1990 VHS (US/Canada)1990 LaserDisc (US/Canada)VHS (Germany)