According to Hinton, the officer who carried out his arrest said that he "didn't care whether I did it or not," guaranteeing he would be convicted. Since then, Hinton has been able to forgive everyone responsible for his imprisonment, because thats how my mother raised me and because I have a God who forgives. Hinton's case was taken up by the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. Their forensics experts were unable to match crime-scene bullets to Hinton's mother's gun. How the case against him unraveled", "Alabama death row inmate freed after 30 years", "Book Marks reviews of The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton, co-written with Lara Love Hardin", "The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton with Lara Love Hardin review", "Death row survivor returns to address #Bonas seniors", "Death row survivor Anthony Ray Hinton to keynote Bona's 159th Commencement", "They Couldnt Take My Soul": Anthony Ray Hinton on His Exoneration After 30 Years on Death Row, "How to Survive Death Row: Anthony Ray Hinton served 30 years in prison for murders he didn't commit. Having spent 30 years on. He was wrongfully convicted of two murders and served nearly three decades in jail before being released in 2015. What are the mistakes in the case against Mr. Hinton? I hated those men that did this to me.. Alabamas Jim Crow-era constitution openly intended felony disenfranchisement and the biased criminal legal system that ensnared Mr. Hinton to work hand in hand to squash Black political power, she added. "They Couldn't Take My Soul": Anthony Ray Hinton on His Exoneration I mean ONLY.. In the summer of 1985 in Birmingham, Alabama, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested, tried, and convicted of the murders of two restaurant workers earlier that year; two crimes he was innocent of. The only potential evidence that proves Mr. Hinton committed the murders depends upon an absolute, conclusive determination that the bullets recovered from their bodies were in fact fired through the barrel of the firearm taken from the defendants home, prosecutors wrote in their court filing on Wednesday. Justice Served After 30-Year Prison Sentence | CBN.com Despite providing a solid alibi, Anthony Ray Hinton was still sentenced to death by the state of Alabama. [4], Hinton's initial appeals continued to be handled by his public defender, Sheldon C. Perhacs, who lost each of Hintons cases. At the same time, Republican lawmakers introduced the Fair Justice Act. As Mr. Hinton wrote in an op-ed, had the Fair Justice Act been in place when he was convicted, I would have been executed despite my innocence. Like other men and women sentenced to death in Alabama, where there is no state-funded office to provide counsel for postconviction proceedings,it took years to find volunteer lawyers willing and able to provide the legal assistance Mr. Hinton needed to prove his innocence. Number two, a white man gonna say you shot him. [15] Writing for The Guardian, Tim Adams described the book as, "a story of forgiveness and struggle"[16] and concludes that, "his wonderful memoir recreates the ways he escaped from his cell in his head had tea with the Queen of England, married Halle Berry and how he shared that possibility with his fellow death row inmates. Anthony Ray Hinton Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family EJI attorneys engaged three of the nations top firearms examiners who testified in 2002 that the revolver could not be matched to crime evidence. Ive always felt that I have the Supreme Lawyer, says Ray. An all-white jury sentenced him guilty of two counts of capital murder and to death by electric chair.. Twelve years after the new ballistics tests were ignored by an appeals court in 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court finally overturned Hintons conviction and granted him a new trial, at which point a new judge promptly dismissed the charges, according to a release from the Equal Justice Initiative. This has everything to do with the way we treat those who are vulnerable in our criminal justice system.. Mr. Hinton was appointed a lawyer who mistakenly thought he could not get enough money to hire a qualified firearms examiner. He . As she desperately prays for healing, hear the message she receives from God on todays A woman receives an answer to a prayer she never wanted to pray. Anthony Ray Hinton leaves the Jefferson County jail in Birmingham, Alabama in April 2015, after nearly 30 years on death row. They began, he said, with his arrest in one shooting that occurred while witnesses said he was at work miles away. But as a poor black man in the South, Hinton was sentenced to death by electrocution. Anthony Ray Hinton (born June 1, 1956) is an American activist, writer, and author who was wrongly convicted of the 1985 murders of two fast food restaurant managers in Birmingham, Alabama. Anthony Ray Hinton: 'I spent 30 years on death row for a crime I didn't Their key piece of evidenceexpert testimony claiming the ballistics report of the bullets pulled from the victims matched a handgun found in Rays home. Men indicted on separate officer assault charges. Mar 27, 2019 . See her moment of surrender, and the miracle of life. Joe Nangle will also be honored May 19 Anthony Ray Hinton will deliver the keynote address May 19 at St. Bonaventure University's 159 th Commencement ceremony, almost four years after he left an indelible impression on the class about to graduate.. Hinton was released from prison in April 2015 after spending 30 years on Alabama's death row for a crime he did . Mr. Hintons release from the Jefferson County jail, where he was being held awaiting a new trial that was ordered last year, came close to three decades after a court-appointed lawyer mounted such a feeble defense that the United States Supreme Court ruled it was constitutionally deficient.. Mr. Stevenson said it was unclear whether Mr. Hinton would ever receive any compensation from the state. Hinton was granted a new trial, and the charges were dismissed after prosecutors said that the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences determined that the bullets that killed the restaurant managers could not have been used with Hintons mothers gun. If this is where God intends for me to be and die, this is where I die. Though a 29-year-old Anthony Hinton was working at a locked warehouse 15 miles away at the time of the second crime, and although there were no eyewitness accounts of the first incident, he was arrested one evening while cutting the grass outside of his mother's house . The 64-year-old, whose story was featured in the HBO documentary film True Justice, is one of thousands of formerly incarcerated Americans who are casting ballots amid a new movement to restore their reentry into society and a reckoning on criminal justice and racism in America. Fourteen months later, the district attorney in Alabama finally abandoned the case, and Hinton went free. When he was 29 . I say it because they took 30 years from me.. Experiencing freedom after 30 years on death row | News | The Law In recent days leading up to the vote, Hinton had been thinking more about his grandparents and his parents, who he said werent allowed to vote because of voter suppression such as literacy tests, polls taxes and intimidation. Harriet Beecher Stowe and Harriet Tubman were two of the most well-known abolitionists.. Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs were both able to free themselves from slavery. His claims of innocence would fall on deaf ears, including those of his court-appointed lawyer. Students will discuss systemic error in the criminal justice system and the real impact of wrongful convictions on individual lives. He was 29 years old at the time. Hinton was freed in 2015 after spending 28 years on death row for two 1985 murders that occurred during separate robberies of fast-food restaurants in Birmingham. But it doesnt matter. In the interview, Hinton described how issues of race permeated his case. Hinton was convicted of murdering two fast food restaurant managers and sentenced to death at the age of 29. Anthony Ray Hinton, Exonerated Alabama Death Row Inmate - NBC News Ray still remembers one of their last conversations before Henrys execution in 1997. Thirty years ago, Mr. Hinton was arrested and charged with two capital murders based solely on the assertion that a revolver taken from his mothers home was the gun used in both murders and in a third uncharged crime. SUPPORTED BY VIEWERS LIKE YOU. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. Anthony Hinton was arrested after the manager identified him from a photo lineup, even though he was working in a locked warehouse fifteen miles away at the time of the crime. [11] Hinton's original defense lawyer had wrongly thought he had only $1,000 available to hire a ballistics expert to rebut the states case on evidence. Stunned, confused, and only twenty-nine years . We conclude that they did not and hold that Hinton's trial attorney rendered constitutionally deficient performance. Some 300,000 Alabamians had completed sentences but still didnt have the ballot, according to the Sentencing Project, a nonprofit group working to create more fairness in the criminal justice system. Anthony Ray Hinton was convicted and sentenced to the most extreme penalty for a crime he did not do because of the color of his skin. -- Anthony Ray Hinton spent more than half his life on death row in southern Alabama. Prosecutors dropped the case against Anthony Ray Hinton, 58, when new . As my good friend Bryan Stevenson says, the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice but justice needs help., How I got 30 years on death row for someone else's crime, 'I went to death row for 28 years through no fault of my own', Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. EJIs probe into Rays trial was disturbing; among their findings: witnesses had been manipulated, Rays defense counsel was inept, and the surviving victims initial description of the assailant bore little resemblance to Ray. [4], After Hinton had been on death row for about a decade, Bryan Stevenson at the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a non-profit based in Montgomery, Alabama, picked up his case,[4] handling his defense for 16 years. 1. By not voting, you allow people to get into the drivers seat that allows them to oppress you even more., For 30 years, Mr. Hinton was stripped of all his rights while he sat on Alabama's death row for a crime he didn't commit. In two or three sentences, compare the two Harriets. Identify - BRAINLY Exonerated death row inmate tells his story at Legacy Museum 0. Indifferent to these concerns, the Alabama legislature passed the new law this spring,making it more difficult to obtain adequate counsel and imposing more unfair filing requirements. But Hinton was ultimately convicted due to a gun that was discovered in his mothers home, where he lived. What happened to make him stop accepting defeat and start fighting back? According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Mr. Hinton is the 152nd person exonerated from an American death row since 1973. From Death Row to a Life of Freedom: Anthony Ray Hinton Mr. Hinton walked out of the Jefferson County Jail a free man. And number five, youre gonna have an all-white jury., Anthony fought to claim his innocence. Hinton was 29 when was convicted and sentenced to die in the state's electric chair. We vacate the lower court's judgment and remand the case . In 2015, Hintons 30 years of unbroken prayers were answered and the nations highest court ruled unanimously in his favor. Write the Vision, Make It Plain, Run With It. [3], On April 3, 2015, Hinton was released from prison after Laura Petro, a Jefferson County Circuit Court judge, overturned his conviction and the state dropped all charges against him.[2][6]. [5][7] The jury disregarded the testimony of Hinton's boss, who testified that he was at work during the time of the alleged crimes. March 22, 20185:57 AM. Ive got to forgive, he said. He has become an inspirational speaker, traveling the country and the world. Now a Community Educator with EJI, Ray is doing what he can to bring reform to the justice system. I dont have a choice., Alabama Man Freed After Decades on Death Row, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/04/us/anthony-ray-hinton-alabama-prison-freed-murder.html. . Anthony Ray Hinton - Wikipedia After 30 years in custody for crimes he did not commit, Mr. Hintons release is bittersweet. Police arrived at the house near Birmingham, Alabama, and arrested him for. The cop was right. The civil engineer testified that the ballistics test did not link the gun authorities found to either of the shootings. We have a system that is compromised by racial bias, and his case proves it., Weve gotten into a culture, he said in a separate interview, where the pressure to convict and to achieve these outcomes is so great that owning up to mistakes is less frequent than youd like to imagine.. Join Washington Post senior critic-at-large Robin . Anthony Ray Hinton did not sleep very well the night before Tuesdays presidential election. One of those people was Henry Hays, a KKK member on death row for lynching a Black teenager. During his decades in prison, he was supported by his mother's faith in his innocence, as well as that of a longtime friend, Lester Bailey, who visited him monthly. What were the charges brought against Hinton? Download the free myCBN app. In 1985 Hinton was charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of two fast-food restaurant managers in Birmingham, Ala., with the charges hinging on a revolver that had belonged to his mother. 3. Overview: The struggle to adapt to life after conviction is a major challenge, especially for those who were innocent of the crime that led to a prison sentence. This isnt luck, this was a system, this was actually our justice system, it was our tax dollars who paid for the police officers who arrested Mr. Hinton. In 1985 Hinton was charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of two fast-food restaurant managers in Birmingham, Ala., with the charges hinging on a revolver that had belonged to his. [emailprotected]. Anthony Ray Hinton spent decades in jail for crimes he did not commit. Being locked up for 30 years made me realize how important the vote was, He added. But then, soon, he realized he became the person his mother didnt raise him to be. With no credible expert to challenge the States assertion of a match, Mr. Hinton was convicted and sentenced to death. Anthony Ray Hinton, who was on death row for nearly 30 years, had been charged and convicted in the 1985 murders of two Birmingham area fast-food managers. [8] In June 1989, that judgment was affirmed by the unanimous Supreme Court of Alabama. The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life, Freedom, and Justice, Rekindling the Power of God Within to Effect Change. Hinton spent 30 years on Alabama's death row for crimes he didn't commit. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. He added that from the outset, this case exhibited many of the classic signs of innocence.. The only evidence that the state ever had claimed, connected Mr. Hinton, did not exist.. Smyth has spoken about how he uses comics in his classroom at numerous conferences including Comic Cons in San Diego, New York and Chicago as well as at the Pennsylvania and National Council for the Social Studies conferences. It took almost a decade for Mr. Hinton and his lawyers to recruit a panel of experts, including a former F.B.I. It was 1986. Death Row Exonoree Wednesday, April 12, 2023 8pm. Anthony Ray Hinton found his calling on death row, but it's our job to And so it was not until Friday at 9:30 a.m., one day after a Circuit Court judge ordered his release, that Mr. Hinton exited the jail to hugs, tears and wails of Thank you, Lord!, The State of Alabama let me down tremendously, Mr. Hinton said in his first interview after his release. What did Hinton say were the five reasons given by the police officer that guaranteed his conviction? Innocent on death row, former inmate joins Germanna 'Community [18] He had previously spoken to the students of the Class of 2019, six months after his release, in 2015. (Teacher Tip the three charts in the article can be shared and analyzed without having to read the entire article.). The sun does shine, he said as he was embraced by family and friends.