There is a possibility that “The Innocents,” a full-scale crime novel written by Jonathan Rose with Steve Panter and Trevor Wilkinson, will be screened.
Curiosity Lights and United Heroes will adapt the book, which depicts the murder of 11-year-old Leslie Morshid and the subsequent wrongful conviction of Stefan Kisco, into a television drama.
The story follows the trial and wrongful conviction of Kisko, a mentally disabled man of Ukrainian descent, who served 16 years in prison until new evidence came to light proving his innocence. Another man was convicted of Molshid’s murder in 2007, following advances in forensic science.
Kisco’s mother, Charlotte Kisco, campaigned for more than a decade for her son, who died 22 months after his release from prison. Charlotte died shortly thereafter. One lawmaker described the incident as one of the “worst miscarriages of justice in history.”
Terry Clark is overseeing early stage development. JD Zacharias (Orphan, Freud’s Last Sessions) will produce Curiosity Lights alongside United Heroes’ Egor Olesov (Mr. Jones, The Battle of Sevastopol).
“Today, one voice can mobilize millions of people,” Zacharias said. “But it wasn’t always that way. McKinnon’s story shows what visibility can accomplish. The Innocents is a story about a family that never had that opportunity, a family that was invisible to the system. Stephen’s mother did everything she could, but the world still wasn’t listening. That tragedy is what makes this story so essential.”
Director Olesov added, “This story is not just a legal failure story. It’s a true underdog story about what happens when ordinary people face a system that doesn’t listen to them. For families far from home, especially when they have no visibility or influence. Justice will feel out of reach. We also explore the lives and sacrifices of the ordinary people who joined Charlotte’s fight to free Stefan and then went on the hunt for the real culprit in Leslie Molseed. “The Innocents” is profound. It is human, deeply painful, and deeply meaningful. ”
