"Number one, you're black. EJI lawyer Charlotte Morrison explains. Streamed live on Jun 15, 2022 29 Dislike Share Save Washington Post Live 54.1K subscribers Anthony Ray Hinton was sentenced to death and held in solitary confinement for 28 years on Alabama's. This has nothing to do with luck. At the time of Mr. Hintons initial trial, his lawyer used a visually impaired civil engineer with little expertise in firearms to rebut prosecutors whose case hinged on linking the handgun found in Mr. Hintons home to a string of shootings in and around Birmingham. Their key piece of evidenceexpert testimony claiming the ballistics report of the bullets pulled from the victims matched a handgun found in Rays home. In Alabama, he writes, judges are elected based on how many people they send to death row, not on how many people they let off., Hintons lawyer provides this ghastly statistic: With 34 executions and seven exonerations in Alabama since 1975, one innocent person has been identified on Alabamas death row for every five executions.. Mr. Hinton hugs EJI lawyer Charlotte Morrison. Stunned, confused, and only twenty-nine years . When Hinton convinces the prison warden about halfway through his three decades of imprisonment to allow him to receive books besides the Bible so that he can form a book club, the reader shares the exhilaration of Hinton and half a dozen of his fellow prisoners as they are finally able to travel outside the walls of the prison, through the words of James Baldwin and Harper Lee. Hes also written a book about his journey of forgiveness and redemption, hoping his story will inspire change and healing. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! New York Times bestselling book by Anthony Ray Hinton. 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.
Seattle Arts & Lectures \ Introductions: Anthony Ray Hinton "[14] He completed a memoir entitled The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row (2018), and has given readings and talks around the country about the book and his experiences. 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. And number five, youre gonna have an all-white jury.. The arresting officer told him chilling words he would never forget when authorities arrested him. It took almost a decade for Mr. Hinton and his lawyers to recruit a panel of experts, including a former F.B.I. At the time, Hinton worked at a supermarket warehouse and lived with his mother, Buhlar Hinton, at her home in rural Alabama, about half an hour north of Birmingham. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] #ElectionDay #Vote2020 pic.twitter.com/J2eFOWnheD. After 30 years on death row, Anthony Ray Hinton was exonerated over two years ago. Hinton speaks about racism's role in conviction. He added that from the outset, this case exhibited many of the classic signs of innocence.. But something deep inside his character made it possible for him to make friends of everyone near him, from the white man next to him on death row who had lynched a black teenager to almost every single prison guard who met him. [18] He had previously spoken to the students of the Class of 2019, six months after his release, in 2015. Then, another crushing setback. That victim survived and then misidentified Hinton as his assailant; then the state completed this travesty by providing completely fake ballistic evidence to tie a gun found in Hintons mothers home to all three murders. The only evidence linking Hinton to the. What did Hinton say were the five reasons given by the police officer that guaranteed his conviction? Then in 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Rays case. One of those people was Henry Hays, a KKK member on death row for lynching a Black teenager. I am passionate in sharing Gods love to the world through the skills and talents God has blessed me with. When Hinton was done eating, about half past six, he drove to the polling location where he would cast his first vote in a presidential election since he was released from Alabamas death row. And youre going to take the rap. I dont believe the God that I serve is gonna let me die for a crime He knows I didnt commit.. I truly believe God sent me to death row to meet Henry Francis Hays, says Ray. He must do exactly what he said he would do.
Life after wrongful conviction - PBS NewsHour Classroom At Holman Correctional Facility, Rays cell was a mere 30 feet from the execution chair they called Yellow Mama. The cop was right. American activist, writer, and author (born 1956), List of wrongful convictions in the United States, "Anthony Ray Hinton Spent Almost 30 Years on Death Row. I mean ONLY.. Anthony Ray Hinton (born June 1, 1956) is an American man who was wrongly convicted of the 1985 murders of two fast food restaurant managers in Birmingham, Alabama, sentenced to death, and held on the state's death row for 28 years. You want to know why?, Number one, youre black. He left Notre Dame Law students with a challenge to serve justice.
Alabama death row inmate freed after 30 years - BBC News And Anthony made a decision to accept the reality and still allow God to use him while in prison. They gonna say you shot him. "Real Love had no Color" - Falsely Convicted Black Man Encounters Jesus on Death Row, Falsely Convicted Of Murder, Man Spends 30 Years In Prison Sharing Jesus, Bob Marley Turned To Christ Before His Death Professing, Jesus Take Me, Jewish Woman Hears Gods Voice While Being Revived, Youre Not Dying Here. The lesson asks students to consider what it would be like to be convicted of a crime you didnt commit, or be a family member of someone convicted of a crime even though they are innocent.
Summary Of Anthony Ray Hinton's Trial | ipl.org The evidence against Hinton was scant: There were no fingerprints at the scenes and no witnesses who placed him there, according to the outlet. [12] On April 1, 2015 the Jefferson County district attorneys office moved to drop the case. Hinton was 29 when was convicted and sentenced to die in the state's electric chair. During their unlikely friendship, Ray saw God change Henry from a man full of hatred, to one who knew Gods love and had found redemption in Jesus Christ. I said, Henry, I truly believe that you are going to Heaven, says Ray. [4] Hinton's book received extremely positive reviews. He was 29 years old at the time. When Hinton told the arresting detective that he had the wrong man, the detective told him that he didn't care whether he did it or not. In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and wrongfully charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. Arrested for a series of capital murders in his home town with no corroborating evidence, and with no history of violent crime, Mr. Hinton was convicted on the basis of testimony that a gun owned by his mother - which had not been fired in 25 years - was the gun used in all three murders. As it concerns Alabama, however, a representative from the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama said that Hinton has yet to receive an official apology or any restitution due him from the state of Alabama. -- Anthony Ray Hinton spent more than half his life on death row in southern Alabama. Woman In Wheelchair Miraculously Takes Off Running During A Revival Service In Megachurch Pastor Who Left Ministry For A Time Returns Refreshed, Renewed, The Whosoevers Ryan Ries Kill The Noise, Finland Is Ending Homelessness With This Ingenious Idea, Why Friendships Are Vital to a Healthy Spiritual Life, Another Campus Revival Breaks Out At Cedarville University. Ray had a message, and he taught that message to his neighbor Henry, though they only had one thing in common. Hinton knew it was a case of mistaken identity and naively believed that the truth would prove his innocence and set him free. Committed Christian Anthony Ray Hinton doesn't use the word "hell" lightly; nevertheless, that's what three decades of solitary confinement in William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Alabama, was like, he says. Death Row Exonoree Wednesday, April 12, 2023 8pm. Anthony Ray Hinton was released from prison in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday.
Alabama Man Freed After Decades on Death Row - The New York Times Somehow, he's not enraged", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anthony_Ray_Hinton&oldid=1136681327, Overturned convictions in the United States, 21st-century American non-fiction writers, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles lacking reliable references from June 2022, All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from June 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 31 January 2023, at 16:12.
Anthony Ray Hinton found his calling on death row, but it's our job to (What were the five reasons given by the white police officer that guaranteed Mr. Hintons supposed guilt?) In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. Error: There was an internal error submitting your form. Tim Smyth teaches 10th and 11th grade social studies at Wissahickon High School in Ambler, Pennsylvania. Two days later, after serving 30 years in prison for a crime he didnt commit, Ray was released. Anthony, or Ray, still remembers the arresting officers chilling words There are five things that gonna convict you. Now a Community Educator with EJI, Ray is doing what he can to bring reform to the justice system. Number one, youre black. Mr. Hinton was appointed a lawyer who mistakenly thought he could not get enough money to hire a qualified firearms examiner. Anthony was a man who loved God and followed the example of Jesus Christ. The States evidence of a match was wholly discredited by three highly qualified firearms examiners, including the former chief of the FBIs firearm and toolmarks unit, who testified in 2002 that the bullets from all three crimes could not be matched to a single gun at all, much less to Mrs. Hintons gun, and found that her gun could not have fired the bullets from the third uncharged robbery.
"They Couldn't Take My Soul": Anthony Ray Hinton on His Exoneration Anthony Ray Hinton, on death row for decades, casts vote in 2020 The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life, Freedom, and Justice 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. [4] After being released, Hinton wrote and published a memoir The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row (2018). What was the turning point in prison for Hinton? When he was arrested the police officer told him that he would have a white judge, a white jury and a white man was going to testify that Mr. Hinton killed a man.