Join the Montana Innocence Project for a screening of "The Phantom" followed by a Q&A with the director, Patrick Forbes, at the Missoula Public Library on September 14 from 5:30 p.m. - 7:45 p.m. "The Phantom" tells the story of Carlos DeLuna, a man who was executed in 1989 for the murder of Wanda Lopez at a gas station in Corpus Christi, Texas. But evidence uncovered by a Columbia law professor and his team point to another suspect. This event will highlight issues related to innocence work, witness misidentification, official misconduct, the death penalty, and the criminalization of LatinX people. Follow the Montana Innocence Project on Facebook @MTInnocenceProject and Instagram @bigskyinnocence for more information. 

Randi Mattox

‘The Phantom’ follows the 1983 case of Carlos DeLuna, a 21-year-old Texan man who was arrested for murder despite his ongoing pleas of innocence — all the way up until his 1989 execution. According to the NY Times, Forbes uses “an effective blend of reconstructions and interviewees to take viewers through the night of the killing.” A haunting but necessary watch, this powerful documentary serves to expose the pitfalls of the deeply flawed American justice system. 

Carlos DeLuna was arrested in 1993 aged 21 for the murder of Wanda Lopez, and protested his innocence until his execution, declaring that it was another Carlos who committed the crime.