“I would have been dead today if I hadn’t gone to death row” -Joaquín José Martínez, U.S. death row exoneree

Joaquín José Martínez, the first Spaniard ever exonerated from U.S. death row, grapples with the aftermath of his wrongful conviction, a landmark case that strained U.S.–EU relations. Joaquín supported the death penalty until he was convicted, at the age of 24, of a double murder in Florida in 1997. The Spanish-American spent more than five years in prison—three of them on death row. More than two decades after he was exonerated, Joaquín transforms his personal trauma into public advocacy.

The documentary follows Joaquín as he reconnects with his former death row chaplain to process how this near-death experience set him on a new path. He reflects on his own incarceration while visiting a Spanish prison where Francisco Franco executed dissidents during his 36-year dictatorial regime, and he embraces spiritual renewal with his family during Valencia’s annual Fallas festival.

The film explores key questions: Is there ever an ethical reason to kill someone? And how do we reconcile the contradiction that facing a death sentence, even an unjust one, can paradoxically lead to a second chance at life?