--------------------------中英分割线-------------------------------------------- Estate of Kenneth Waters To Receive $3.4 Million In Settlement For His 18 Year Imprisonment
Posted on July 15, 2009 by Avi Kamionski The Boston Globe is reporting: 波士顿环球 报道：
The town of Ayer and five of its insurers have agreed to pay $3.4 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit filed by the estate of the late Kenneth Waters, who spent more than 18 years in prison for a murder he did not commit before his sister earned a law degree and helped free him through DNA evidence. The estate was represneted by Barry Sheck of Neufeld Sheck and Brustin.
Ayer police were accused of coercing false testimony to convict Waters and withholding evidence that could have cleared him. A sixth insurance company, Western World Insurance Group, has declined to settle, but negotiations are continuing. Kenneth Waters was freed from prison in March 2001, and the Middlesex district attorney’s office dropped the charges against him. But he enjoyed only six months of freedom. He died on Sept. 19, 2001, after he fell on his head from a 15-foot wall in Rhode Island while taking a shortcut to a restaurant.
Ayer’s town administrator, Shaun A. Suhoski, said the lawsuit was “a very complex case and, through the very diligent efforts of our legal team, with close oversight of the Board of Selectmen, it appears we’ve reached an acceptable endpoint in this litigation.’’
Kenneth Waters was convicted in 1983 of first-degree murder and armed robbery in the death of Katharina Brow. She was found on May 21, 1980, with more than 30 stab wounds, in her mobile home in Ayer. Waters; his girlfriend, Brenda Marsh; and two of her children, one of whom Waters had fathered, had been living in a house behind the mobile home.
According to the complaint filed by Betty Anne Waters, her brother had a solid alibi for his whereabouts when the killing occurred: He had been working a night shift at a local diner and then had a court appearance the next morning for an unrelated matter. Ayer police interviewed him after the killing, but filed no charges, and the case remained unsolved for 2 1/2 years.
In October 1982, a man who was living with Marsh approached Ayer police and said she told him that Waters had confessed to killing a woman in Ayer, according to the complaint. She also said she had washed Waters’s bloody clothes, he said. Ayer Police Chief Philip L. Connors and Officer Nancy Taylor-Harris interrogated Marsh. Although she initially denied that Waters had anything to do with the killing, Marsh ultimately relented and said he had come home drunk the morning that Brow was killed with a long, deep scratch on his face, according to the complaint. Police arrested Waters, even though officers had examined him after the killing and found no wounds.
The complaint alleged that Waters was indicted based in part on false testimony before a grand jury by Taylor-Harris that fingerprints found at the crime scene were smeared and useless to investigators. In fact, authorities found a bloody fingerprint on a broken toaster and a partial print on a kitchen faucet that was still running when Brow’s body was discovered. Taylor-Harris knew that Waters had been excluded as the source of the prints, the complaint alleged. Waters was convicted by a Middlesex Superior Court jury and sentenced to life in prison.
上周的这个时候去看了阿基里斯与龟。两部电影都很好，但是凑在一起，让人心里有一种说不出的难过。
人总共不过就这三种生活：第一种是《定罪》式的，第二种是《阿基里斯与龟》式的。
《定罪》式的生活是为了什么东西拼命付出。以过程交换结尾。执着得令人感动，信念到疯狂的程度，为了不顾一切的目标与生活战斗，哪怕失去亲朋，失去平稳，失去自信，这辈子都在艰难中度过。
以失去生活换一个结局。
这样的执着，最大的问题不是艰难，而是迷途。这是《定罪》走到《阿基里斯》的路径。真知寿其实从来不失败，他的每一幅画都是那么好，可是他走的是迷途。他的执着注定是没有结果也不可能成功，因为他根本不像贝蒂安，他想成功，但他不知道什么是他的成功。他的人生不孤独，可是不孤独的代价是没有结果。
第三种生活是《楚门的世界》。如果不想让自己的人生孤注一掷，也不想迷惘地来回旋转，只是愿意简单幸福地过生活，那可不可以呢。
可以。那就是《楚门的世界》里的生活。
可以幸福，可以不想那么多，可以不追逐不疯狂，可是我们无法回避面对这简单的幸福早晚有一天都是假象的事实。我们永远不知道自己的喜乐是不是经得起审视，是不是千万人注视中的嬉笑的傻瓜。
哪一条路都是通不到天堂的路，根本也没有通到天堂的路。《定罪》是一部励志的电影吗？励什么志呢？它讲的不过是在绝境中挣扎的故事。
斯万克在屏幕上的脸让人看了心里难过，她脸上的绝望，给行动本身赋予意义。
也许三条路总会走上一条，这接受起来也不难，只是在心里问自己：当我像贝蒂安一样被挫败时，谁从我的床边拉我起来，当我像真知寿一样四处碰壁时，谁陪我一同沉醉不醒，当我像楚门一样被大雨倾盆时，谁能带我找到天幕的小门。
而今生今世，我又能在谁的生命里陪他度过这些绝望的渡口。
这个角色的原本是属于娜奥米-瓦茨的，相信若是她出演，影片传递出的质感和感情细节会全然不同。娜奥米那一张楚楚可怜，时刻可能被吓到的脸，会让这个故事矜持的张力瞬间被瓦解——你甚至很难相信她最终会成功，所有的观众情感都会被牵引到去怜惜一个美人儿如何在如花似玉的年纪做了一个“牺牲一辈子”（片中女主角儿子的话）的苦。
斯万克却不一样，即便她痛得都快哭了，我也未心生痛楚，因为她传递出的角色感受便是：她肯定能击败一切而成功。
演员的演技再好，永远抵消不了命中带来的气质。
还有一个明显的例子，是已经从天后位置退居二线的茱莉亚-罗伯茨。当年为她摘得奥斯卡影后的《永不妥协》，其实跟《定罪》有不少相似之处：贫贱女子展开调查，推翻体制，告赢大财团——这是罗伯茨在《风月俏佳人》之后最正确的一次角色选择，在《风月俏佳人》里，她把妓女演出了处女味，在《永不妥协》里，她把民权斗士演出了妓女味——我可不是高级黑，事实上，这完全是赞美，正是这样妓女味的处理手法，让观众都嗅到了角色丰实的血肉感，那年的奥斯卡，茱莉亚一是胜在多年来的人脉，二是胜在了选角的胜利——每个演员都有自己最擅长的类型和处理，但不是每个演员都能意识并发现这个道理，这同样需要经验和天赋。
所以，感谢斯万克接了这部戏。如果是娜奥米-瓦茨，相信整场戏充满节制的处理方式会完全被泪水冲垮掉——节制和对于情节处理的多处留白，是这部电影最值得评四星的地方。
最后想说的是，一个女人，有这么一生，做了这么伟大的一件事，那还有什么遗憾呢？
1、kenneth很不幸，出狱后只享受了6个月的自由，就死了。
2、兄妹俩获得了3.4million的赔偿。
3、Nancy taylor没有受到任何形式上的处罚，网上连的照片我都没找到。有找到的麻烦给我个地址，我去吐口口水。
--------------------------中英分割线--------------------------------------------
Estate of Kenneth Waters To Receive $3.4 Million In Settlement For His 18 Year Imprisonment
Posted on July 15, 2009 by Avi Kamionski
The Boston Globe is reporting:
波士顿环球 报道：
The town of Ayer and five of its insurers have agreed to pay $3.4 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit filed by the estate of the late Kenneth Waters, who spent more than 18 years in prison for a murder he did not commit before his sister earned a law degree and helped free him through DNA evidence. The estate was represneted by Barry Sheck of Neufeld Sheck and Brustin.
Ayer police were accused of coercing false testimony to convict Waters and withholding evidence that could have cleared him. A sixth insurance company, Western World Insurance Group, has declined to settle, but negotiations are continuing. Kenneth Waters was freed from prison in March 2001, and the Middlesex district attorney’s office dropped the charges against him. But he enjoyed only six months of freedom. He died on Sept. 19, 2001, after he fell on his head from a 15-foot wall in Rhode Island while taking a shortcut to a restaurant.
Ayer’s town administrator, Shaun A. Suhoski, said the lawsuit was “a very complex case and, through the very diligent efforts of our legal team, with close oversight of the Board of Selectmen, it appears we’ve reached an acceptable endpoint in this litigation.’’
Kenneth Waters was convicted in 1983 of first-degree murder and armed robbery in the death of Katharina Brow. She was found on May 21, 1980, with more than 30 stab wounds, in her mobile home in Ayer. Waters; his girlfriend, Brenda Marsh; and two of her children, one of whom Waters had fathered, had been living in a house behind the mobile home.
According to the complaint filed by Betty Anne Waters, her brother had a solid alibi for his whereabouts when the killing occurred: He had been working a night shift at a local diner and then had a court appearance the next morning for an unrelated matter. Ayer police interviewed him after the killing, but filed no charges, and the case remained unsolved for 2 1/2 years.
In October 1982, a man who was living with Marsh approached Ayer police and said she told him that Waters had confessed to killing a woman in Ayer, according to the complaint. She also said she had washed Waters’s bloody clothes, he said. Ayer Police Chief Philip L. Connors and Officer Nancy Taylor-Harris interrogated Marsh. Although she initially denied that Waters had anything to do with the killing, Marsh ultimately relented and said he had come home drunk the morning that Brow was killed with a long, deep scratch on his face, according to the complaint. Police arrested Waters, even though officers had examined him after the killing and found no wounds.
The complaint alleged that Waters was indicted based in part on false testimony before a grand jury by Taylor-Harris that fingerprints found at the crime scene were smeared and useless to investigators. In fact, authorities found a bloody fingerprint on a broken toaster and a partial print on a kitchen faucet that was still running when Brow’s body was discovered. Taylor-Harris knew that Waters had been excluded as the source of the prints, the complaint alleged. Waters was convicted by a Middlesex Superior Court jury and sentenced to life in prison.
一开始是冲着影后们的名号进了电影院，看完以后，我想说：“电影最重要的还是故事。” 虽不能说电影技巧，故事叙述有多么的好，但这部片把一个悲天悯人的故事表达在我们的面前绝对是完成导演的任务了。
影片中我的眼泪湿了几次， 我觉得自己不是个很坚强的人，不过这和看电影一点没有关系。
影片的一开始，Swank一边照顾孩子一边拼命写论文，最后一刻还是没有把论文准时交上。对着台灯，对着书本，拿着笔在笔记本上划得那一下，我的眼泪就涌出来了。 想起我自己，实际上是我母亲读书时的辛苦，和Swank一模一样，这种苦不是一般人能受得了的。
结局的地方，Swank的哥哥和自己18年未见却已长成的女儿拥抱的那一下，我又有点湿。这是什么样的伟大力量呀，能让一个普通的家底主妇有力量昭雪这沉睡18年的沉冤。
说到底就是一个故事，一个让我们为之感动，为之觉醒的故事。平凡的海报，平凡的叙事手法，但一个不平凡的女人和她的伟大让我感动。
能有多少人会愿意为了一个被判无期的亲人牺牲自己的一生呢，我不能，你呢？
影片结束的时候，我环顾四周，坐得大都是老人，并且大家看起来都有点伤心，多数留在座位上和身边的人交谈着。 我想，这种影片最好是带好朋友，和聊得来的朋友来看是最好的。
关于亲人之间那份深刻的感情，爱与信任，似乎总比飘缈不定的爱情承诺更易击中我的心门，撼我心泪！每个人或多或少都曾体悟过无言的伤痛或无奈的现实！有些人转身离开，有些人黯然淡忘，有些人执着坚守！
影片中的女主角在哥哥蒙冤入狱后，不顾家人的反对，义无反顾走上了替哥哥平反昭雪的道路，通过12年的不懈努力拿到法学学位，并最终证明了哥哥的清白，换来哥哥自由的下半生！片中女主角的心如水晶，经历了困难挫折的淬炼打磨，在阳光下反射出异常美丽的爱的光辉，让人惊叹！
在这漫长艰难，与整个固若金汤的法律体系与残酷现实作斗争的18年间，她又失去了多少?！用她儿子的话是：“她浪费了自己的一生！”这个故事终究是美好的，哥哥的确是被人诬陷，而她所在的社会，法律也不断完善，她所有的付出，最终换回让她满意的结局！
其实这也可以算是上天的恩赐，命运的眷顾！因为在千千万万的人生中，也许你被自己最相信的人欺骗，也许你终其一生仍一无所获，可是却还有无数人坚持自己最初的信念！
人生境遇不同，历程相异，在面对相同问题时，也会让人做出不同的选择！而每个人的选择与坚持，不能用对错衡量，更不能由别人评判，没有值不值得的付出，只有甘不甘愿的倾注！如果心甘情愿，就是值得！
每个社会必然有它的阴暗与死角，太多难以发声的弱势群体，只能无所适从的接受命运的铺排！对于那些直面困难挫折，敢于挑战权威体系的勇士，无论出于私人因素也好，还是人性道义也罢，我们应心怀感激与敬佩；毕竟有他们的存在，更加光明与美好的社会即使仍然遥不可及，却也不再杳然无期！
影片最让人欣喜的还是演员们精湛的演技，尤其是小演员极为出色的表现，令人过目难忘！童年时期的叛逆不羁，不肯分离预示着未来道路上，两兄妹坎坷却纤绊终身的人生！
而影后与Sam Rockwell的精彩表现同样收张有度，内敛中潜藏着一触即发的情绪释放！幽微的细节也不显冗长多余，而随着沉静的原声配乐，沉落的柔和天光，我的感情也旋即落进这个关于爱与坚持的故事里，心中的滋味五味杂陈！