High Crimes

High Crimes is a 2002 American legal thriller film directed by Carl Franklin and starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman, reunited from the 1997 film Kiss the Girls. The screenplay by Yuri Zeltser and Grace Cary Bickley is based on Joseph Finder's 1998 novel of the same name. Plot Attorney Claire Kubik and her woodworker husband Tom find their idyllic life in Marin County, California, shattered when, during a Christmas shopping excursion in San Francisco's Union Square, he is captured by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and charged with the 1988 murders of nine unarmed civilians in a village in El Salvador. Claire learns Tom's real name is Ronald Chapman, and she is shocked to discover he was in a covert military operation, serving in the Marines, and has been on the run for the past 12 years. Tom admits he was present at the scene of the mass murders but staunchly denies any involvement in the killings. He insists he has been scapegoated to protect the real culprit, Major James Hernandez, who has become the aide of Brigadier General Bill Marks. First Lieutenant Terence Embry is assigned to defend Tom, but his youth and lack of experience prompt Claire to decide to assist professionally in defending her husband. When she realizes she needs help from someone familiar with the workings of a military court, she hires Charlie Grimes, an embittered former military attorney who has a grudge against the military brass, to assist her. Three of the five key witnesses, who previously testified Tom was guilty, have died under seemingly mysterious circumstances, raising Claire and Charlie's suspicions. As the trial proceeds, they uncover a massive cover-up perpetrated by one of the military's highest-ranking officials. Also creating problems are the sudden appearance of a resident of the village where the mass murder took place, who insists Tom was responsible; Embry's romantic involvement with Claire's irresponsible sister Jackie; Embry's drinking in a bar with the prosecutor, which leads Claire to assume that he leaked details about secrets she has uncovered to the prosecution; and Charlie's falling off the wagon after more than a year of sobriety.