Sacramento Film and Music Festival 2009

On December 9, 1991 Rick Walker was convicted and sentenced to 26 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Linked to the crime by false testimony and questionable legal tactics, Walker would spend the next 12 years of his life in some of California’s most dangerous prisons. $100 a Day is a compelling story of gross injustice, political partisanship and the heroic struggle to prove Walker’s innocence. Once exonerated, he would face yet another barrier to justice – the California State Legislature. Entitled to receive one hundred dollars for each day falsely imprisoned, Walker became a pawn in the annual partisan battle over the California budget. In the early morning hours on the last night of the 2003 session, California State Senator (then Assemblyman) Joe Simitian challenged his colleagues to put aside their political differences and “show 35 million Californians that we have the right stuff.' Did they? Would Simitian be successful in persuading his fellow legislators to transcend the bitter partisan atmosphere in the Chamber that night? Or would Rick Walker be wronged by the system twice? Ultimately, $100 a Day is about hope – hope that in one man’s quest for justice lays the inspiration for our elected officials to govern with the true strength of their convictions.