Review by MovieCriticOnline

I never understand the "they had a bad life" defense. Anyone who gets involved with prostitution, hard drugs, pimps, crime, and murder obviously had a bad life. Most criminals have had bad lives. Should that be a defense of their crimes? Absolutely not. If we are blaming their life of abuse then hardly anyone should ever be prosecuted.

Now, the actual sentence can be discussed if it is too harsh. In this case, I think it was. 20-30 years would be more appropriate, maybe less.

It was interesting. I just wish it was less the emotional stories from her and her family. You just don't judge a case on how screwed up your life was. Obviously, if you are getting beaten and then you kill the perpetrator, that is a legit defense.

Was it about the murder or was it about abuse? It felt more like the latter. There is next to no testimonials from the victim's family (literally like 10 seconds) so it is very one-sided. So since we never heard from the victim's family or rarely from the defense it's very difficult to really make a decision as to the time she deserved.

I still recommend it, but just be aware of the emotional appeal of the filmmaker trying to dictate how you should feel about it. I would have rated higher if it wasn't so manipulative.