Paul Armstrong, a
liberal Harvard professor and former lawyer opposed to
capital punishment, is persuaded by an elderly woman to go to
Florida to investigate the conviction of her grandson Bobby Earl Ferguson for murder. Ferguson, a former
Cornell University student, was convicted of raping and brutally murdering a young white girl named Joanie Shriver eight years prior. Ferguson tells Armstrong that he was physically and psychologically tortured by two police detectives to get a
forced confession, but firmly states he is innocent. Armstrong, believing in his innocence, must save him from being executed in the
electric chair. As Armstrong digs deeper into the case, he discovers that Tanny Brown, the chief detective on the case, did indeed coerce Ferguson's confession. Ferguson tells the professor that the murder was actually committed by Blair Sullivan, a
serial killer awaiting execution. According to Ferguson, Sullivan constantly taunts him about his conviction for the crime. Sullivan, through the use of cryptic Biblical clues, provides a lead on the location of the knife used to kill the girl. Armstrong and Brown investigate, and find the weapon concealed in an old culvert. Brown tries to threaten Armstrong into abandoning the investigation, and Armstrong in turn discovers why Brown is so passionate about the Ferguson case: the murdered girl was best friends with Brown's daughter. With a new testimony and with the murder weapon in hand, Ferguson gets a re-trial and is acquitted and thereafter freed from prison. Subsequently, the governor authorizes Sullivan's execution. Armstrong receives a call from Sullivan, who says he has a final clue to share, but first wants Armstrong to visit Sullivan's parents and tell them he said goodbye. Arriving at the house, Armstrong sees various religious items before finding their butchered, decaying bodies. Back at the prison, Sullivan gloats that he and Ferguson struck a deal: Ferguson would kill Sullivan's parents in exchange for freedom, while Sullivan would claim responsibility for the girl's murder, which Ferguson did in fact commit. Armstrong asks why he was needed for their scheme, and Sullivan replies that was "Bobby Earl's call", meaning that Armstrong would be much more believable in establishing the verdicts than either Ferguson or Sullivan. Armstrong, in his anger at being manipulated, lies to Sullivan and tells him his parents were alive and that they "forgive him", enraging Sullivan. Shortly thereafter, he is forcibly taken to the electric chair, where he is executed. Armstrong suspects that Ferguson is aiming to kidnap his wife and daughter, and pursues him with Brown in tow. They learn Ferguson's motive is a desire for revenge on Armstrong's wife Laurie; she was the prosecutor against him in a previous kidnapping case where the arresting officer was the woman's ex-boyfriend which, while ultimately dropped due to lack of evidence, resulted in his being brutalized and
castrated in jail when she had him remanded to make a name for herself, as well as the loss of his Cornell scholarship and educational prospects. Out in the swamps, Armstrong finds his wife and daughter in a small shack, where Ferguson appears after ambushing Brown and taking his gun. Ferguson claims to have killed Brown, and states his intent to avenge himself on Armstrong's wife and daughter, and then disappear. Brown suddenly appears behind Ferguson and helps Armstrong overpower him. Armstrong stabs Ferguson to death with Ferguson's own knife, and his body is eaten by alligators. Having come to an understanding with Brown, Armstrong is reunited with his family. ==Cast==