Death Row

Internationally renowned director and documentary filmmaker Werner Herzog travels to Texas to answer some questions about life imprisonment and death row. Filmed contemporaneously with his acclaimed capital-punishment documentary Into the Abyss – A Tale of Death, a Tale of Life, Herzog’s Death Row follows five individuals, their stories, and their crimes.

Episode 1: James Barnes

James Barnes broke into the apartment of a young woman and watched her taking a shower. First he tried to strangle her, then he used a hammer to kill her. Barnes also confesses to two further murders on camera. 

Episode 2: Hank Skinner

Hank Skinner was sentenced to death for the fatal stabbing of his girlfriend and her two mentally retarded sons. He had his execution scheduled three times; the second time he got a reprieve only 23 minutes before his scheduled execution. His account of his last few hours before execution is chilling and profound.

Episode 3: Joseph Garcia and George Rivas

Joseph Garcia and George Rivas were both – perhaps unjustly – given extremely high prison sentences for their initial crimes, but later received the death penalty for taking part in the famous prison break of the Texas Seven. George Rivas was executed on February 29, 2012.

Episode 4: Linda Carty

As one of ten women on death row in Texas, Linda Carty was convicted for abducting a new-born baby boy; the infant’s mother was found asphyxiated. Carty’s publicdefender presented no witnesses of his own, and met her only minutes before her indictment.

Death Row can be purchased from the SBS Shop here.