News Articles & Interviews:
Los Angeles Times Interview with Margaret Taley
Al Martinez Column Los Angeles Times - "A Murder In Suburban Paradise"
New Trial Sought - Conejo Valley Examiner article
"Life in Prison" -- CBS News
Dan Rather and Brandon HeinOne of the best articles about this case is the Rolling Stone article, "Lynching In Malibu: A Tale of Fear, Retribution and Injustice in The War Against Youth" by Randall Sullivan. (September 4, 1997) "This story is as much about the community where it took place, and communities like it all over the country," says Sullivan, "as it is about seven boys in a back-yard brawl. The incident was local - the issue was national."
Film & Theatre
Documentary Film: "Reckless Indifference"
STARZ! Cable is periodically showing RECKLESS INDIFFERENCE a documentary about Brandon's Case produced by Academy Award nominee William Gazecki . An epilogue has been added featuring a phone call from Brandon and an interview with attorney William Genego. The film has run over several months and provoked outrage by people previously unaware of Brandon's case.Feature-length documentary by Oscar-nominated director William Gazecki began a limited run in Los Angeles for Oscar consideration. The powerful documentary focuses on Brandon's case and raises new questions about the justice in our legal system.
Activist attorney Alan Dershowitz, featured in the film blasts the justice system for sentences Dershowitz calls "disproportional, outrageous, unconstitutional and immoral." In the film Dershowitz says, "This is clearly not a case where the law was properly applied. This is a manslaughter case."
State Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) appears in the film interviewing Brandon Hein in connection with a Hayden bill introduced last year to allow judicial discretion in felony murder rule cases. The bill was voted down on the Senate floor.
Gazecki, nominated for an Academy Award in 1998 for the documentary "Waco: The Rules of Engagement," called his new film "compassionate without being knee-jerk liberal. These kids were stupid and they were reckless," he said. "But they were kids, and the system was equally as reckless."
Memorable sound bites are drug-dealer Mike McLoren's description of Micah Holland's "alligator mouth" backed up by a "hummingbird ass", and a totally incomprehensible diatribe by the DA apparently intending to offer some insight into his conduct during the case, which many see as prosecutorial misconduct.
You can order your own copy of RECKLESS INDIFFERENCE and show it to your friends and neighbors. Filmmaker William Gazecki is making copies of RECKLESS IN DIFFERENCE available for $19.95 each. Buy Now
Play - "The Prosecution of Brandon Hein"
Actor, commentator, author and playwright Charles Grodin has been a long time supporter and friend of Brandon Hein. There will be a reading of his newest play "The Prosecution of Brandon Hein", May 23rd, at the Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Drive, New Haven, CT. Box office (203) 787-4282. The play may also open later in San Francisco and Los Angeles.Documentary Film - "Actions of Consequence" - A powerful documentary by Scott Goldie. Scott was a senior at the prestigious Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara when he was captivated by newspaper reports of Brandon's trial. What was supposed to be a 5-10 minute senior final project turned into a powerful hour-long documentary that won Goldie highest honors. Goldie talked with prosecutors, the Farris family, the Heins and the other families, as well as fellow students. Goldie served as Associate Producer for William Gazecki in making "Reckless Indifference". "Actions of Consequence" is available for use from Friends of Brandon Hein and is an excellent resource for schools.
Jonny Lang "Prison Blues" Concert
November 2, 2000 - Jonny Lang performed a "Prison Blues" concert at the Key Club in West Hollywood to benefit Brandon Hein. Jonny is a Friend of Brandon Hein and visited Brandon in prison at Tehachapi. Lang, the bands, the Key Club and staff all donated their time and facilities to support Brandon. Thanks to all who helped make this a success! While money doesn't necessarily buy justice in the U.S., you can't press your fight for justice without huge sums of money! The concert raised over $18,931 for Brandon's Defense Fund.
Brandon and Family:
"The Heart Has Wings" - Poem by Janice Hein
Shove muscle, bone and skin around
Lock them downBegrudge to palms on banded wrists
Cold trays of sustenanceChain and cuff
Lock with keys
Legions of state propertiesDeny respect
Deny requests
Deny my mind and soul exist
But you cannot oppress the heart
For it has wingsAnd to and from my loved ones brings
Joy and hope and loveThese things we own because
The heart has wings."Brandon" - Poem by Pat Kraetsch, Brandon's Mom
I think of Brandon day after day,
While trying to work, to read, to play.
I hope and pray and cry out with pain,
I don't understand what there is to gain.Oh dear God show me the way.
What is it you want me to do, to say?
How can this sadness transcend to power,
When heaviness fills most every hour?It's not that I doubt your heavenly force,
Its just that I'm not sure of the course.
What steps do I take to right this deed?
What is it we must all do to succeed?We love our son and long to hold him tight,
And sometimes the dread raises up in the night.
To be stuffed back down, to control our fears,
And swallow up the hot, frustrated tears.We keep going because its all we can do.
We have to be strong for all to view.
But part of our heart, our being,
Is locked behind bars that no one is seeing.I try to think of a time yet to be,
When my son will walk on the side next to me.
And on that day there will be no more tears,
As we work together to recapture the years.------------------------------------------------------------------------
