Too Young to Die?

Too Young to Die?
Written by David Hill
George Rubino
Directed by Robert Markowitz
Starring Michael Tucker
Juliette Lewis
Brad Pitt
Alan Fudge
Theme music composer Charles Bernstein
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
Production
Producer(s) Susan Weber-Gold
Julie Anne Weitz
Running time 92 min.
Release
Original release 26 February 1990

Too Young to Die? is a 1990 television movie starring Brad Pitt and Juliette Lewis. It touches on the debate concerning the death penalty. It is based on a true story. Three years later, Pitt and Lewis would reunite, portraying somewhat similar characters, in Kalifornia.

Basis

Although set in Oklahoma, the film is loosely based on Attina Marie Cannaday, who along with David Gray, killed Ronald Wojcik, with a knife, in Harrison County, Mississippi on June 3, 1982.

Cannaday (born September 8, 1965) was charged with robbery, kidnapping, and homicide. At the time of her trial, she was a sixteen-year-old divorcee, who had married at thirteen and divorced at fourteen. She was convicted in Harrison County Circuit Court of the kidnap and murder of U. S. Air Force Sergeant Ronald Wojcik and the jury sentenced her to death by lethal injection. The guilty verdict was upheld, but the sentence was reversed in 1984, Cannaday v. State, 455 So.2d 713, 720 (Miss. 1984), and she was resentenced to one life sentence and two 25-year sentences at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (inmate number 42451). She was released on parole on March 9, 2008.

Her co-defendant, David Randolph Gray (born May 29, 1954) was charged with aggravated assault, grand larceny, and homicide. He, too, was sentenced to death by lethal injection. His sentence was reversed in May 1987, by the U. S. Supreme Court, in Gray v. Mississippi, 481 U.S. 648, on the basis "a qualified juror was excluded from his trial". He is currently serving a life sentence in Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (inmate number 01440).[1][2][3][4]

Cast

References

  1. ↑ Gray v. Mississippi, 481 U.S. 648 (1987). - Oyez Project - November 12, 1986
  2. ↑ Transcript: U.S. Supreme Court Oral Argument. - Gray v. Mississippi, 481 U.S. 648 (1987). - Oyez Project - November 12, 1986
  3. ↑ Gray v. Mississippi, 481 U.S. 648 (1987). - FindLaw: Cases and Codes
  4. ↑ Inmate 01440 - Mississippi Department of Corrections

Further reading

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