Keith Harrison: Just the good old boys, not meaning no harm . . .

Especially when it's tucked away on a little-watched channel destined for the dumper, i.e. BBC Three.

But this week's Life And Death Row was just so powerful, I had to watch the last few minutes standing up as it built to a jaw-dropping denouement.

At times astounding, it was hard-hitting, compassionate, heart-breaking, beautiful and brutal.

Very, very brutal.

The documentary told the tale of Guy Heinze Jr, accused of killing his father and seven other family members and friends in a squalid mobile home in Georgia. If convicted, he faced the death penalty.

The rickety shed-like 'house' looked like every clichéd Deep South film set you've ever seen; tyres piled up outside, grotty furnishings and way too many people living there until that fateful night.

This being the land of the free, the police supplied footage of the murder scene – with the bodies still in place. Like I say, you need a strong stomach to watch this one.

Especially as all eight victims had been beaten to death with a blunt instrument, believed to be a shotgun, although the actual murder weapon was never found.

Four years later, the trial began and again the cameras rolled.

Heinze's mild-mannered grandmother Jean, one of only two surviving relatives, bought him a suit for the trial – the first time the 26-year-old had ever worn one.

He looked uncomfortable.

Much of the programme focused on the hopes and fears of his younger brother, Tyler, a simple soul desperately longing for a verdict that would bring his sibling home for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

In court, the accused sat calmly as 12 of his peers heard the evidence that would decide his fate as the local chief of police leaned against a wall, texting.

Witnesses came and went as the case twisted and turned on a daily basis; How did one man kill eight people in such a small space without any escaping? Why did the small town police not collect all the evidence from the scene? Why was his alibi so flimsy? What exactly did he tell a co-worker – and when?

Incredibly, with each development trash TV news channels rolled out all sorts of 'experts' to literally shout their verdicts at each other across the screen. Incredible.

The defence and prosecution teams also gave running commentaries on how they thought it was going.

"They normally convict our defendants after an hour," chuckled the defence attorney as the jury deliberated for more than a day, "So this is good going."

Even the jurors were happy to be interviewed after the event, unwittingly revealing some of the flaws driving a system that could cost a man his life.

"I was just confused the majority of the time," said one, tellingly. She was aged just 22.

I won't give away the verdict and urge you to resist the temptation to look it up on Google.

Instead, just click on the BBC iPlayer and watch the American justice system in action for yourselves.

If it doesn't make you think long and hard about the death penalty, nothing will.

You may also want to consider the wisdom of allowing cameras into court. Especially as the jurors are now nano-celebrities in their home town state, giving interviews to TV and revealing who said what when they retired to consider a life or death case.

And one thing is beyond reasonable doubt . . . you may want to cross Georgia USA off your holiday list.