USA - “Death Row Stories” debuts tomorrow on CNN.

“Death Row Stories” debuts Sunday on CNN. The new CNN documentary series, “Death Row Stories,” a case-by-case examination of the death penalty in America, has its roots in the New Orleans story of John Thompson. Convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1985, Thompson served 18 years in Angola before being set free. He has since crusaded against prosecutorial misconduct and worked as an advocate for newly released prisoners. The eight-episode series, debuting at 8 p.m. Sunday (March 9) and part of a CNN trend toward becoming a platform for documentary storytelling, is narrated by Susan Sarandon, and produced by Alex Gibney and Robert Redford. Thompson’s story doesn’t come up until the April 6 episode, but the series was inspired by his case. “John’s story started it, really,” said Gibney during the Winter TV Tour in Hollywood. “Just thinking about how to make John’s story as a single film started the idea of a series. What’s interesting about his story is he has very much a present-day mission is to really crusade for some kind of punishment for prosecutorial misconduct.” And that, Gibney said, is the narrative thread throughout “Death Row Stories.” “It's so hard to get the system to ever admit a mistake,” he said. “John’s story is particularly compelling in that way. It's a vintage story of that kind of misconduct, in a city that is known for political corruption. And yet the compelling thing about John’s story is how he comes out of it with a kind of mission, and that was inspiring to me. Narrated by Susan Sarandon (making a logical connection to her Oscar-winning role in “Dead Man Walking”), the show begins with Edward Lee Elmore, an African-American man convicted of murdering a white woman in South Carolina more than 30 years ago. Episode 2 will tell the story of Gloria Killian, episode 3 of Joe D'Ambrosio, episode 4 of James Duckett, episode 5 of John Thompson, episode 6 of Kris Maharaj, episode 7 of Timothy Hennis, and episode 8 that of Nathan Dunlap.