THE LAST JUROR

In 1970 The Ford County Times one of Mississipis more colourful weekly newspapers went bankrupt. To the surprise and dismay of many ownership was assumed by 23-year- old college drop-out Willie Traynor. The future of the paper looked grim until a young mother was brutally raped and murdered by a member of the notorious Padgittt family. Traynor reported all the gruesome details and his newspaper began to prosper. The murderer Danny Padgitt was tried before a packed courtroom in Clanton Mississippi. The trial came to a startling dramatic end when the defendant threatened revenge against the jurors if they convicted him. Nevertheless they found him guilty and he was sentenced to life in prison. But in Mississippi in 1970 life didnt necessarily mean life and nine years later Danny Padgitt managed to get himself paroled. He returned to Ford County and the retribution began.