The Thin Blue Line

"You have a D.A., he doesnt talk about when they convict you or how they convict you, hes talking about how hes going to kill you. He dont give a damn if youre innocent. He dont give a damn if youre guilty. Hes talking about killing you. You get numb. You get…Its like a bad dream. You want to wake up but you cant do it."

"Our criminal justice system, on paper, is the best in the world… but were human, and so we make mistakes. If you execute and execute and execute, at some point you will execute an innocent man."

"The Thin Blue Line was a project done by Errol Morris and though it helped me by taking my case to the public, I could not win my freedom in a theater. It had to be achieved in a courtroom. After my release, Mr. Morris felt he had the exclusive rights to my life story. He did not. Therefore, it became necessary to file an injunction to sort out any legal questions on the issue. The matter was resolved before having to go before a judge. Mr. Morris reluctantly conceded that I had the sole rights to my own life. I did not sue Errol Morris for any money or any percentages of The Thin Blue Line, though the media portrayed it that way."

"I always tried very hard — every judge I know of does — to not show emotion on the bench. The reason: if you do show emotion, the jury might take it that youre favoring on side or another. So you try to remain passive, emotionless, objective. I do have to admit that in the Adams case — and Ive never really said this — Doug Mulders final argument was one Id never heard before: about the "thin blue line" of police that separate the public from anarchy. I have to conceded that my eyes kind of welled up when I heard that. It did get to me emotionally, but I dont think I showed it."

"He went over my testimony with me, pretty extensively, instructed me how I should testify, et cetera, how I should answer certain questions, things of this nature. Thats what you call "coaching the witness", you know. Lets get this evidence in the spectrum where its going to be most effective. At the same time, I didnt really ponder on it, but he was deceiving the jury, see. He wanted to deceive Justice. Thats why I think that statute with the scales, Justice… what is she called? I dont know that she called. Shes got that blindfold on. We dont see what goes on behind the closed doors."

"He, of course, almost overacted his innocence: he protested he hadnt done anything, couldnt imagine why we were bringing him in. He didnt fight or he didnt resist. He just protested his innocence."

"And we sort of tried to inquire: didnt he think it was a little strange that there was a robbery committed with that same pistol, and here it was David Harris pistol, David Harris automobile that picked up Randall Adams, didnt he think it was a little odd that all the utensils for committing this so-called murder were committed… were… were furnished by David Harris who got off scott free and was being a witness for the prosecution? And all he said was "Well, ho-hum, we dont feel that was in Vidor, Texas. Our people just are not that… were not that keen on ruining a young mans life."

"My mom had a good phrase. She said the first night she pulled into Dallas, it was raining, that it was lightning. And theyre coming into Dallas and she said if there was ever a hell on earth, its Dallas County. Shes right. Shes right."

"Yeah, when I was a kid I used to want to be a detective all the time because I used to watch all the detective shows on TV. When I was a kid they used to show these movies with Boston Blacki and he always had a woman with him. And I wanted to be a wife of a detective or be a detective, so I always watching detective stories. Im always looking because I never know what might come up. Or how I could help. I like to help in situations like that. I really do. Its always happening to me, everywhere I go, you know, lot of times theres killing or anything, even around my house. Wherever. And Im always looking or getting involved, you know, find out who did it, or whats going on. I listen to people. And Im always trying to decide whos lying or who killed who before the police do. See if I can beat them. Yeah."

"The re-enactments in The Thin Blue Line were never used to make you think you were looking at the real world. In fact, they were ironic re-enactments, re-enactments that were in conflict with each other, re-enactments that were demonstrations of falsehood, re-enactments of beliefs, re-enactments of what people claimed that they had seen rather than what I thought they had seen. And the purpose of them was to bring you deeper and deeper and deeper into the mystery of what actually happened. And to heighten the conflict between the claims made by the various witnesses and the reality of that world out there. Because, after all, there is a world out there in which things happen or dont happen."

"Ive had people accuse me of being responsible for reenactment television, for infotainment television … The reenactments have been widely imitated, but the use of graphics in the Thin Blue Line, the use of close-ups of words, or parts of an actual document, is also something that has been imitated widely. Its now seen — and I could be wrong about this. I could have my history of the documentary confused and reinterpreted by myself in a self-serving way, Im not sure — but I believe my use of these close-ups was something thats unusual and originates with Thin Blue Line. So I like to think of it as not the convention, but something thats come to be imitated widely. Even by myself."

"Im a salesman. And you develop something like total recall. I dont forget places, things, or streets, because its a habit. Something I just picked up. I just stare intensely at people and try to figure them out. Being nosey, I just stare. I was leaving the Plush Pub one night, driving a 1977 Cadillac, heading west on Hampton. I noticed a officer had two individuals pulled over to the curb in a blue … some type of vehicle. It was… it was a blue…it was a blue… I think… it was a blue Ford. It was a blue something."