Just how far would you be prepared to go for a loved one? How much of your life would you be prepared to sacrifice?
That is the question raised by Conviction (in cinemas now), the true story of how a sister unquestioningly dedicated 20 years to getting the brother she believed was innocent of murder out of jail.
Betty Anne Waters went beyond simply protesting to anyone who would listen. With no money for lawyers she went back to school, then to college, training to become one herself so she could fight his case.
A working class mum from a deprived background, she did it while supporting herself through bar work and raising her children.
Two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank, who plays Betty Anne in the film made about her fight to free her brother Kenny, said: “She’s just selfless.
“People would say to her, you’ve given up your life for this’ and she would say ‘It became part of my life. I did what anyone would do’.
“That spoke volumes about her because she believes everyone would do this, and you look at her and go ‘no, not everyone would’.”
Armed with her hard-earned legal expertise, Waters uncovered evidence of shoddy police work, blood spatters that could be sent for the then newly developed DNA testing and that witnesses had lied.
“The movie is pretty spot on,” says Waters. “We found out after the film that the character played by Melissa Leo was an even worse person as she held evidence from day one that she knew Kenny was innocent, so I wish she was portrayed a little worse.”
Juliette Lewis has won a best supporting actress award for her turn as one of Kenny’s exes whose evidence helped to put him in prison. Two decades on Lewis plays her as a broken-toothed drunk with a rat-like sense of self-preservation.
“That is Rosanna Perry,” says Waters, with relish. “I can’t wait for her to see the movie.”
Sam Rockwell plays Kenny, who tragically died in 2001, shortly after the point where the film ends.
“He wanted the movie more than anything. When he was released he was the 83rd person to be exonerated through DNA evidence. I thought he would be in the paper for the day and then gone.
