(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. Managers John Davidson and Thomas. Hinton began his talk by explaining the context of his arrest, where he was charged with first-degree robbery, kidnapping and attempted murder. The 29-year-old found himself helpless and questioned God what he did so wrong for it to happen to him. Their forensics experts were unable to match crime-scene bullets to Hinton's mother's gun. I have no respect for the prosecutors, the judges. "Thirty years ago, the . Death Row Exonoree Wednesday, April 12, 2023 8pm. "If God hadn't intervened and sent me his best lawyer, within two years I would . Anthony Ray Hinton spent three decades on Alabama's death row for crimes he did not commit. Former death row inmate Anthony Ray Hinton, who was exonerated in 2015 after spending nearly 30 years behind bars in Alabama, says he has forgiven the state for its decades-long injustice. 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 . By making the state postconviction process even more complicated and arbitrary, the law increases the likelihood that clients on death row will not receive full and fair review of their cases. But the book club is short-lived, after the prisoners who are left out of it convince the warden it is unfair to allow only some of them to become readers. Students will look at the ways race and other factors play a role in wrongful convictions. A year ago, almost to the day, I traveled to Montgomery, Alabama for the Equal Justice Initiative's unveiling of the Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration and The National Memorial for Peace and Justice.. He has become an inspirational speaker, traveling the country and the world. This lesson uses a video segment from PBS NewsHours Searching for Justice series. In this lesson, students meet Anthony Ray Hinton, one of hundreds of people who were exonerated, or had charges against him dropped after hed been convicted and sent to prison. After every level of the Alabama court system had rejected Hintons appeals multiple times, his lawyer decided to take his case directly to the US supreme court. [emailprotected]. What happened to make him stop accepting defeat and start fighting back? Then, another crushing setback. 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. All rights reserved. I finally looked at you as a human being.. Anthony Ray Hinton's wrongful conviction and time on death row is featured in the upcoming drama, Just Mercy. The film, starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx, follows attorney. Hinton, 58, looked up, took in the sunshine and thanked God and his lawyers Friday morning outside the county jail in Birmingham, minutes after taking his first steps as a free man since 1985. He spent 30 years in prison until, with the help of. With no credible expert to challenge the States assertion of a match, Mr. Hinton was convicted and sentenced to death. And Anthony made a decision to accept the reality and still allow God to use him while in prison. March 22, 20185:57 AM. Despite Rays ironclad alibi for at least one of the robberies, and the lack of solid evidence, prosecutors pushed for a conviction. This morning, he arrived at the polls and exercised his right to vote. Anyone can read what you share. In 1985 he was convicted of the murders of two restaurant workers in Birmingham, Ala. Thirty years later . Get a daily devotional and encouraging 2-3minute video direct to your inbox. Anthony Ray Hinton spent decades in jail for crimes he did not commit. Anthony Ray Hinton Exonerated After 30 Years on Death Row. (You will need to make a copy of the document to edit it.). Pain and terror: America's history of racism, Let sleeping dogs lie: Lynching memorial angers some. After 28 years of living in a cell that was five . Anthony Hinton. Why was it important for a white ballistics expert to be hired? 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. 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. This is the state of Rosa Parks who refused to give up her seat and we changed things through legislation and the vote. But then, soon, he realized he became the person his mother didnt raise him to be. Men indicted on separate officer assault charges. My only crime was being born black in Alabama, Hinton writes, his prosecution nothing less than a lynching in which the white robes of the Ku Klux Klan were replaced by the black robes of justice. On parole for petty theft, the 29-year-old was living with his mom and working as a day laborer. Discover God's peace now. 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. On Tuesday, he cast a vote for president. On February 25, 1985, and July 2, 1985, two fast food managers, John Davidson and Thomas Wayne Vason, were killed in separate incidents during armed robberies at their fast food restaurants in Birmingham. 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. Hinton was 29 when was convicted and sentenced to die in the state's electric chair. As for Ray, the courts would continue to block his appeals for a retrial. Birmingham, Alabama, 1985. 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. In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital . What was the turning point in prison for Hinton? I dont think the society nor the men that did this to me realized what they took from me, says Ray. There were no eyewitnesses or fingerprint evidence; police had no suspects and pressure to solve the murders grew as similar crimes continued. [12] On April 1, 2015 the Jefferson County district attorneys office moved to drop the case. Police seized an old revolver belonging to Mr. Hinton's mother, and state firearm examiners said that was the gun used in all three crimes. Mr. Hinton walked out of the Jefferson County Jail a free man. 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. BELTON Two Bell County men were indicted by a grand . We are thrilled that Mr. Hinton will finally be released because he has unnecessarily spent years on Alabamas death row when evidence of his innocence was clearly presented, said his lead attorney, Bryan Stevenson. Convicted, he was sentenced to death and held in solitary confinement on Alabamas death row for 28 years, before being exonerated. Anthony Ray Hinton's wrongful conviction and time on death row is featured in the upcoming drama, Just Mercy. The film, starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx, follows attorney Brian Stevenson as he fights for the wrongly imprisoned including Hinton. [4] Finally, Hinton was the last prisoner left on death row. Published: Apr. It took almost a decade for Mr. Hinton and his lawyers to recruit a panel of experts, including a former F.B.I. First, have students answer the following questions, either in class discussion or as written answers. On February 24, 2014, the Supreme Court today unanimously granted relief to Anthony Hinton, finding that his trial lawyer was constitutionally deficient. He said, Number three, youre gonna have a white prosecutor. He has received no compensation. In this lesson, students meet. Anthony Ray Hinton Awarded Honorary Doctorate Degree, Alabama Man Freed After Decades on Death Row, Freed Death Row Inmate: Humor Saved Me from Satan, 122 Commerce Street Montgomery, AL 36104 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. Today, as EJI Community Educator, hes a tireless and powerful advocate for abolition of the death penalty. Mr. Hinton spent 30 years on death row for a crime he did not commit. official, to review the forensic evidence. The only thing reportedly linking Hinton to the crime was the word of a fast food worker who picked Hinton out of a line-up, leading to his arrest. The New York Times bestseller and Oprah's Book Club 2018 Selection. [4] Hinton's book received extremely positive reviews. And number five, youre gonna have an all-white jury.. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. Nearly 30 years after the Alabama authorities relied on analyses of a handgun and bullets to send him to death row, Anthony Ray Hinton was freed on Friday after experts undermined the states case. 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. Anthony Ray Hinton attends "True Justice: Bryan Stevenson's Fight For Equality" New York Screening at SVA Theater on June 24, 2019. Stunned, confused, and only 29 years old, Hinton knew that it was a case of mistaken identity . Anthony Ray Hinton. 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. 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. The arresting officer told him chilling words he would never forget when authorities arrested him. "I woke up like I do every morning I knew that my mother was cooking," Hinton recounted. EJI lawyer Charlotte Morrison explains. But it doesnt matter. Mr. Hinton thanked his supporters and legal team. He told a gathering of family and supporters that "the sun does shine." Hinton, 59, wiped . [4], Additionally, Hintons boss testified that Hinton was working at the time of the incident, and that he was cleaning the supermarket; despite this, the jury still convicted him. Authorities arrested Hinton in 1985, after a string of robberies at restaurants in Birmingham. Discover steps to bring you closer to Christ. I was released from death row. St. Bonaventure University in New York awarded Hinton an honorary doctorate degree in May. 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. So Ive got to forgive. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. Following his release, Hinton famously remarked, The sun do shine., Thirty years ago, the prosecution seemed deemed to take my life from me, he continued, according to an NPR report. Hintonstarted a book club while he was incarcerated, and went on to write a memoir about his experience, called, The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row. Since its publication in 2018, the book has been widely praised, with Oprah Winfrey selecting it for her official book club last June and applauding Hinton in a string of interviews, according to CBS This Morning. Hinton spent 30 years on Alabama's death row for crimes he didn't commit. 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. Anthony Ray Hinton spent decades in jail for crimes he did not commit. Anthony Ray, then a 29-year-old warehouseman, was mowing his mum's lawn when his life was torn apart in July 1985. Hinton told 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley about a conversation he had with a police lieutenant after having been arrested: I said, You got the wrong guy. And he said, I dont care whether you did it or dont. He said, But you gonna be convicted for it. -- Anthony Ray Hinton spent more than half his life on death row in southern Alabama. On July 31, 1985, the police arrested Anthony Ray Hinton for murder. On July 25, 1985, a restaurant in Bessemer was robbed and the manager was shot but not seriously wounded. I am passionate in sharing Gods love to the world through the skills and talents God has blessed me with. 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. At Holman Correctional Facility, Rays cell was a mere 30 feet from the execution chair they called Yellow Mama. 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, haltingly, he began to talk about mercy. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. Ray stayed on death row until the US Supreme Court overturned his sentence in 2015nearly thirty years later. Having spent 30 years on Alabama's death row as an innocent man, the now-freed 64-year-old knows about confinement. Number three, youre gonna have a white district attorney. Anthony Ray Hinton was a man wrongfully convicted of a crime he did not commit back in the year 1985 and what happened was that two fast food restaurants in Birmingham Alabama were robbed and both Mangers were shot dead named Thomas Vason and John Davidson and on a later date of July 25th on the same year another restaurant was robbed in Bessemer Mr. Hintons words were among the starkest reminders that, despite the joyous atmosphere surrounding his release, the case against him had spurred another reckoning for Alabama and a legal system that critics said appeared troubled by obstinacy and arrogance. Number one, youre Black. I lived in hell for 30 years, so I dont want to die and go to hell. And number five, youre gonna have an all-white jury.. Im going to bring the best out of everybody that come in touch with me, says Ray. Police arrived at the house near Birmingham, Alabama, and arrested him for. Start your day together with God and the GOD TV team. Write the Vision, Make It Plain, Run With It. The prosecutorwho had a documented history of racial bias and said he could tell Mr. Hinton was guilty and evil solely from his appearancetold the court that the States experts asserted match between Mrs. Hintons gun and the bullets from all three crimes was the only evidence linking Mr. Hinton to the Davidson and Vason murders. The Lost Books Of The Bible: Should We Accept Or Reject? 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.
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