The Worst Crime

I attended a screening of Through the Cracks (alternate title to The Worst Crime) yesterday at the St. Louis International Film Festival. The documentary is less about the case against Johnny Johnson, who no one denies committed the crime, but about his culpability. Johnson had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, had been struggling with his medications, and, the previous month, had been dropped by his court-ordered mental healthcare provider because the powers that be wanted him arrested for violating the terms of his parole. He WAS arrested, in only about a month: for the attempted rape and brutal murder of a 6-year-old girl with whose family he had been staying... after hearing voices telling him to do so. Does Johnson deserve the greatest penalty for the greatest crime? Does he deserve to die? This is the question of this documentary.