‘Murder,’ Oscar Winner for Best Documentary, on HBO

“Murder on a Sunday Morning” arrives on HBO a week after winning the Academy Award for best documentary feature.

Although not the emotional equal of “Promises,” another nominated documentary that aired earlier on PBS, it’s a dandy film that focuses on Brenton Butler, a 15-year-old African American who was tried in the fatal shooting of 65-year-old tourist Mary Ann Stephens in Jacksonville, Fla., nearly two years ago.

He was on his way to apply for a job at a video store in a white neighborhood when picked up and bundled off by police, even though he was at least five years younger and four inches shorter than the killer described by the victim’s husband.

It’s immediately obvious police have bungled the case that filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade presents through the prisms of Butler’s family and attorneys, public defenders Patrick McGuinness and Ann Finnell. By alternating their stated strategies with their questioning of witnesses--McGuinness is especially forthcoming--De Lestrade creates a disturbing but fascinating primer on the frailties of a justice system that in this instance has cops seemingly intent on convicting the wrong person.

Although its music is a bit thick, “Murder on a Sunday Morning” is noteworthy for its questioning of accepted truths and for putting you into the shoes of the stony defendant as he hears himself being falsely accused of murder and observes McGuinness appear to methodically break down the prosecution’s case.

The question is whether it’s enough to win him acquittal.

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“Murder on a Sunday Morning” premieres Sunday night at 10 on HBO. The network has rated it TV-14-L-V (may be unsuitable for children under 14, with advisories for coarse language and violence).