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LIFE OR DEATH

CAPITAL CINEMA CULTURAL EXCHANGE, INC - as PROMO

Crime - Post-Production 2021

LIFE OR DEATH is the untold story of how two families respond when faced with a mentally ill family member is charged with murder. The stakes ratchet wildly when the death penalty is sought. One family is white, the other black. Audiences will determine whether a grave injustice takes place.

- Year of production
- 2021
- Genres
- Crime, True Story, Documentary
- Countries
- USA
- Languages
- ENGLISH
- Duration
- 120 mn
- Synopsis
- Two wives encourage their husbands to do the right thing: turn in their mentallly ill perpetrating brother-in-laws to authorities. One family, The Kaczysnkis are white, and turn in Ted, the Harvard educated "Unabomber." Ted killed 3 and injured 23 others, while the other family, The Babbitts were black. High school educated dropouts.
  
  Manny Babbitt, returns home from Vietnam with a purple heart to Sacramento, California suffering from PTSD and no form of treatment. He commits the murder of an elderly woman.
  
  Both families now face the death penalty.
  
  While Ted is given life without parole, 14 stories underground in Florence, Colorado, the State of California elects to execute Manuel Babbitt, a distinguished military veteran and honorable inmate to death in San Quentin prison.
  
  Based on existing interviews and extensive time with both families, LIFE OR DEATH will compare the life changing and unexpected journey into America's criminal justice system for these two couples. Audiences will determine whether the scales of justice are blind to color or exploitative of the poor black.