HBO the Execution of Wanda Jean

The film covers the documentary about the execution of Wanda Jean Allen. The documentary was released on March 31st, 2012. Generally, Wanda Jean Allen was a victim of capital punishment in Oklahoma. Additionally, over a half a century in America, there was no black woman who has ever been executed in the state of Oklahoma until the execution of Wanda Jean Allen (Edgerton & Jones, 2008). Basically, Allen was given a death sentence in the year 1989 as a result of committing a murder of her partner, Gloria Leathers. Allen and Gloria were lesbians who met in prison. Allen was serving her sentence following the murder she had committed earlier on.

The film shows how the legal crew and her family tried their best to save her from being executed (frshholygrailzego5, 2012). Actually, the film was shot two weeks before the date of her execution. Although Allen’s family and the lawyers made efforts to save her, they knew very well that she was guilty of the most heinous crime in America. Nevertheless, they advocated for life sentence without parole since she had a mental problem at the time of committing the murder. The film also shows how the family and legal suit of the victim reacted. Basically, the victim’s mother did not see any goodness in Allen being given a death sentence. She had actually forgiven her.

Similarly, the victim’s siblings were against the death sentence. Despite the comments, suggestions and efforts made by the family and legal teams from both sides, the jury did not take into consideration the issue of mental problem that Allen was said to have but rather went ahead and gave the death sentence. Accordingly, her church priest as well as the medical personnel had testified the problem regarding the mental state of Allen. Nevertheless, the prosecutor argued that since her IQ tested 80 the second time, she cannot be considered as a retarded person (Maguire, 2002). Allen was charged with a first degree murder on December 5, 1988. The consequence was execution. Personally, I won’t recommend this film to anyone since it shows disrespect for the human life. Moreover, the film shows how the judicial system was unfair during those times.

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