Dead Wrong: The John Evans Story (24 Jan. 1984)

Convicted of murder and set for execution, John Evans tells his story to the prison chaplain.

Director:

E. Arthur Kean

Writer:

E. Arthur Kean

Stars:

John Laughlin, Bibi Besch, Ed Lauter

Cast

Episode credited cast:
John Laughlin	...	John Evans III
Bibi Besch	...	Mrs. Evans
Ed Lauter	...	Mr. Evans
Timothy Gibbs	...	John Evans III (as a boy)
Cameron Dye	...	Ritter
Jamie Bozian	...	Zack
Bryan Scott	...	Richie
Laura Tubelle	...	Cindy
Jimmy Ford	...	Dick
Molly O'Leary	...	Terry
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nicole Eggert
John Evans	...	Himself (voice)
Holgie Forrester	...	Girlfriend
Kim H. Howard	...	Girlfriend (as Kimberly Webster)
Constance Yelverton	...	Diane Evans

Storyline

The first "CBS Schoolbreak Special" detailed the true story of John Louis Evans, a convicted murder who was sentenced to die by electrocution in Alabama. Days before Evans' execution on April 22, 1983, he gave permission to have a TV crew tape his life story, in which he detailed his crimes and more importantly (now having grown wiser, albeit too late) gave advice to teen-agers about making good choices and not falling into such things as drugs, theft and murder. Evans story is dramatized throughout, first detailing his crimes as a juvenile and how, through a lax juvenile court system, they grew more serious. After being paroled from prison in 1976, he tries to settle down but is soon visited by an fellow inmate, Wayne Ritter, on the night before he is to be wed. Ritter convinces Evans to go with him on what will become a two-month-long crime spree, which culminates with the brutal shooting death of a pawn shop owner (in plain sight of his two daughters). Both men are eventually ...

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Plot Keywords:

murder | prison | electrocution | mobile alabama | pawnbroker | 

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Genres:

Drama | Family | Romance

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 January 1984 (USA)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

48 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

kids need to see this

I saw this Afterschool Special almost twenty years ago and still remember it vividly. John Evans was one of the first people executed in the United States after the Supreme Court restated the Death penalty in 1976. He was put to death in Alabama's electric chair in 1983 after being denied clemency by then Governor George Wallace. Evans was a career criminal who killed a father of two little girls during a robbery. What amazed me is that he admitted he came from a good, loving family and threw it all away. I felt so angry at his horrible crime and felt he deserved to die for it. However, I applaud him for making this cautionary tale. I remember I felt so bad for his poor mother because she lived to see him executed. By the way, a lot of liberals were upset because the chair malfunctioned and Evans sort of got crispy crittered a little bit, oh well TS.