Un coupable idéal
Jean-Xavier de Lestrade
2001 - 111 min - Beta digital - Couleur - France

On May 7, 2000, in the parking lot of a Ramada Inn in Jacksonville, Florida, 65-year-old Mary Ann Stephens is shot in the head before her husband's very eyes. Ninety minutes later, 15-year-old Brenton Butler is arrested. Everything is against him: he is formally identified by the only eye-witness, Mr. Stephens, and he signs a confession. For the investigators and the media who cover the story, it is just another messed-up youth, just another wasted life. But when the case for the defence comes into the hands of Patrick Mac Guiness, the story ceases to be quite so ordinary. The boy proclaims his innocence. He has bruises on his face and thorax. He tells that the detectives beat him up and forced a confession out of him. And the one who hit the hardest is a certain Glover, son of Nat Glover, Sheriff of Jacksonville. Everyone – police, media and public opinion – is ready to sentence Brenton Butler in advance, but Patrick Mac Guiness begins a battle to restaure his client's rights and to point an accusing finger at those he considers to be the real culprits: detectives Williams, Glover and Darnell.