Director talks to the News-Press about ‘Miranda’s Victim,’ which will open the Santa Barbara International Film Festival

WALTER THOMSON PHOTOS

Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin (“Little Miss Sunshine,” “Stillwater”) stars as Patricia “Trish” Weir, who was kidnapped and raped by Mr. Miranda in 1963 in Arizona.

The trials in the case went all the way to the Supreme Court and resulted in creation of the Miranda Rights. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Mr. Miranda should have been informed of his rights to remain silent and to have an attorney present before he signed a confession. 

The case was retried, with Mr. Miranda’s confession excluded, and he was convicted in 1967 and sentenced to 20 to 30 years. He was paroled in 1972, then was stabbed to death in 1976 during a bar fight in Phoenix.

In addition to Ms. Breslin, the movie stars Sebastian Quinn as Ernesto Miranda, Luke Wilson as county prosecutor Lawrence Turoff; Andy Garcia as public defender Alvin Moore, who represented Mr. Miranda; and Ryan Phillippe as ACLU lawyer John Flynn, who argued the case for Mr. Miranda before the U.S. Supreme Court.