Louis Theroux’s Tell Them You Love Me documentary talked about the controversial case of Anna Stubblefield. She was convicted of carnal abuse to a disabled black man, Derrick Johnson.
Though she was sentenced to 12 years in prison, her conviction was invalidated after two years of her custodial sentence.
Tell Them You Love Me is available from Saturday 3rd February on Sky Documentaries and Now TV.
— Mindhouse Productions (@MindhouseTV) January 31, 2024
Directed by @NickAugustPerna
Exec Produced by @louistheroux pic.twitter.com/qWgH8ktdFy
Since then, Anna Stubblefield has disappeared from the public eye, leaving no clues about what happened to her after that.
But at the end of the documentary Tell Them You Love Me, Anna said she worked as a waitress and got fired after a customer complained about her. Since then, she revealed she has been leading a low-key life with a work-from-home job.
Tell Them You Love Me
IMDb DocumentaryA professor has a relationship with a nonverbal man with cerebral palsy. Their affair leads to a criminal trial over disability and consent. The film shows interviews and footage presenting both perspectives.
| Director | Nick August-Perna |
| Release Date | February 3, 2024 |
| Studio | Mindhouse |
| Cast | Kate Dulcich, Jerron Herman, Devva Kasnitz |
| Runtime | 1 hour 42 minutes |
| Rating | – |
Anna’s conviction was overturned in 2018 after an appellate court determined she did not get a fair trial!
The controversial affair case between Anna Stubblefield and Derrick Johnson became the most divisive US criminal trial of the decade.
It involved Anna Stubblefield, a former Rutgers philosophy professor who met Derrick in 2009.
As Derrick is disabled and non-verbal, his family hired Anna to help him learn to communicate. He allegedly began progressing as he could communicate using a facilitated communication keyboard.
But in 2011, Anna revealed she fell in love with Derrick. His brother, Wesley, also found scars and bruises on Derricks’s body, allegedly from rough intercourse.
When Wesley asked Anna if she took advantage, Derrick reportedly typed, with the professor’s help,
No one’s been taken advantage of. I’ve been trying to seduce Anna for years, and she resisted valiantly.
In 2015, the court concluded that then 39-year-old Anna had carnally abused a then 29-year-old Derrick in 2011. Then, she was sentenced to two consecutive 12-year terms in prison and lifetime parole supervision.
But after serving two years behind bars, the appellate court determined she did not receive a fair trial.
The court revealed during the trial that crucial evidence in Anna’s defense was not fully presented to the jury as it relied on a controversial method called facilitated communication.
Thus, in 2017, the court ordered a new trial, during which Anna’s conviction was overturned. Since then, Anna Stubblefield has been living a normal life, albeit hidden from the public eye.
Additional Information
- Anna Stubblefield was married to Roger Stubblefield when she fell in love with his patient, Derrick Johnson. However, they divorced, and they have two kids.
- The documentary Tell Them You Love Me aired on February 3, 2024.
