"CITIZEN JANE," AN ORIGINAL MOVIE BASED ON THE LIFE OF JANE ALEXANDER -- NATIONAL FIGURE IN THE VICTIM'S RIGHT'S MOVEMENT � NOW IN DEVELOPMENT FOR HALLMARK CHANNEL FOR 2009
"Citizen Jane," an original movie based on the life of recently deceased victim's rights activist Jane Alexander, is in development for Hallmark Channel. It is being produced by Grosso Jacobson Communications Corporation with James Dalessandro as the writer. It is tentatively planned to air in 2009.
San Anselmo, Calif. resident, Jane Alexander, known by many as "Citizen Jane," died Sunday afternoon, December 14, 2008 at age 86. Jane was a national figure in the Victim's Rights movement, thanks to her group Citizens Against Homicide, and the book Citizen Jane, written by James Dalessandro in 1998. In 1996, Jane helped win a landmark conviction of Tom O'Donnell, Jane's former boy friend, for the murder of her 88-year old aunt, Gertrude McCabe, who had been savagely murdered in her San Jose home in 1983. The trial was the culmination of a 13-year journey to get justice for the victim.
In 1994, Alexander and San Rafael resident Jan Miller � whose daughter Veronica was murdered in Chico, California in 1984 and is as yet unsolved � founded Citizens Against Homicide to assist victim's families in the pursuit of justice. Jane and Jan helped solve 20 murders and expanded Citizens Against Homicide into all 50 states, with more than 5,000 members, a monthly news letter, and national acclaim. Jane received numerous awards, including the "Witness of the Year" from the California District Attorney's Association, and in 2004, Jane and Jan were invited to speak at a national Victim's Rights group in Newcastle, England, and German television did a one-hour special on their work. In 2006, California's First Lady, Maria Shriver, presented Jane Alexander with the "Minerva Award" for outstanding Citizenship. Shriver had phoned Jane several days before her death to offer support and aid in her struggle with cancer, and Governor Swarzenegger had supported the efforts of Jane and Jan Miller by offering state funds as reward money to witnesses in old homicide cases.
Hallmark Channel, owned and operated by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., is a 24-hour basic cable network that provides a diverse slate of high-quality entertainment programming to a national audience of 86 million subscribers. The top tier program service is distributed through more than 5,450 cable systems and communities as well as direct-to-home satellite services across the country. Hallmark Channel consistently ranks among the top 10 ad-supported cable networks in Prime Time and Total Day household ratings and is the nation's leading network in providing quality family programming. Crown Media also operates a second 24-hour linear channel which plays the greatest family movies of all time, Hallmark Movie Channel, and launched Hallmark Movie Channel HD in April, 2008.
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