"Thirty years ago, the . Error: There was an internal error submitting your form. The police turned up one day while Hinton, then 29, was mowing his mother's lawn; they. One of those people was Henry Hays, a KKK member on death row for lynching a Black teenager. Number two, a white is gonna say you shot him whether you shot him or not.. three, youre going to have a white prosecutor. 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. EJI attorneys engaged three of the nations top firearms examiners who testified in 2002 that the revolver could not be matched to crime evidence. Mar 30, 2016 Updated Mar 31, 2016. 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. Pastor Glen Berteau wants to reignite the fire of God within believers that have allowed their faith to become dormant. 07.31.17. Police arrest Anthony Ray Hintonthe man they believe committed three armed robberies that left two restaurant managers dead, and a third wounded. He-he-he's going to be executed, says Lester. [2] Hinton was sentenced to death and held on the state's death row for 28 years before his 2015 release. Your natural reaction was it-it's over. In 1985, two Birmingham area fast-food restaurants were robbed and the managers, John Davidson and Thomas Wayne Vason, were fatally shot. Under the Fair Justice Act, I'd be dead. All rights reserved. A total of 54 men walked past Hinton's cell on their way to execution. And number five, youre gonna have an all-white jury.. 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. It only takes the first two pages of the introduction by the authors equally remarkable lawyer, Bryan Stevenson, to make the reader appalled. This lesson uses a video segment from PBS NewsHours Searching for Justice series. Start your day together with God and the GOD TV team. They had every intention of executing me for something I didn't do. They just didn't take me from my family and friends. The gun belonged to his mother, but forensics experts hired by the state of Alabama claimed that it was the murder weapon. "To be accused of murder, itto me, it-it don't get no worse than that," says Anthony. Anyone can read what you share. A polygraph test given by police exonerated him, but the judge (now-retired Circuit Judge James Garrett) refused to admit it at trial. He has received no compensation. The Exoneration Project, American Constitution Society, Federalist Society, and Klau Center welcome Anthony Ray Hinton, an Alabama man who spent 30 years on death row for crimes he did not commit. [9], Hinton was sent to death row, where he was held in solitary confinement for nearly three decades. He said, Number three, youre gonna have a white prosecutor. Anthony Ray Hinton walked out of the Jefferson County Jail in Birmingham, Alabama, a free man for the first time in 30 years at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, April 3, 2015. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Anthony was a man who loved God and followed the example of Jesus Christ. On parole for petty theft, the 29-year-old was living with his mom and working as a day laborer. 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. Im going to bring the best out of everybody that come in touch with me, says Ray. 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. The arresting officer told him chilling words he would never forget when authorities arrested him. The credibility of his ballistics expert - the only one the attorney thought he could hire with the funds available - was discredited by the prosecutor due to the expert's physical limitations and lack of experience. Then, another crushing setback. [3] A survivor of a third restaurant robbery picked a photo of Anthony Ray Hinton, then age 29, from a lineup, and the police investigated him. New York Times bestselling book by Anthony Ray Hinton. Download the free myCBN app. . Mr. Hinton was appointed a lawyer who mistakenly thought he could not get enough money to hire a qualified firearms examiner. Anthony Ray Hinton Equal Justice Initiative. After 28 years of living in a cell that was five . Read the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution below and determine which of the five reasons from the second question of activity 1 were unconstitutional. So I believe in the promise of hope alive, he said. A woman suspects a stroke as her eyes twitch and she experiences slurred speech. You gonna have a white jury more than likely. And he said, All of that spell conviction, conviction, conviction. I said, Well, does it matter that I didnt do it? He said, Not to me. Hinton went on to explain how he felt about the racial bias in his case: I cant get over the fact that just because I was born black and someone that had the authority who happened to be white felt the need to send me to a cage and try to take my life for something that they knew that I didnt do. Bryan Stevenson, Hintons attorney and the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, joined Hinton for the interview, and spoke about the systemic issues surrounding the case. [emailprotected]. 4. [4] Finally, Hinton was the last prisoner left on death row. And number five, youre gonna have an all-white jury., Anthony fought to claim his innocence. Officers had retrieved a handgun from Mr. Hintons home and, after analyzing it and the recovered bullets, concluded that the shootings were tied. The books are still passed around from cell to cell, but the meetings in the prison library are over. Anthony Ray Hinton spent decades in jail for crimes he did not commit. Theres five things theyre going to convict you to, the officer told him. A jury found him guilty, a judge sentenced him to death. 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. [4] After being released, Hinton wrote and published a memoir The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row (2018). 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. I lived in hell for 30 years, so I dont want to die and go to hell. Having spent 30 years on. "I woke up like I do every morning I knew that my mother was cooking," Hinton recounted. Love your enemy. The only way that we will ever conquer hate is love.. Today, as EJI Community Educator, hes a tireless and powerful advocate for abolition of the death penalty. God made it possible for you to know. 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. 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. At Holman Correctional Facility, Rays cell was a mere 30 feet from the execution chair they called Yellow Mama. The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row. No fingerprints or eyewitness testimony were introduced. 2023 The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc., A nonprofit 501 (c)(3) Charitable Organization. Anthony Ray Hinton. He spent 30 years in prison until, with the help of. (Teacher Tip the three charts in the article can be shared and analyzed without having to read the entire article.). 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. I have no respect for the prosecutors, the judges. 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. About $2,100 was missing from the safe. 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. Hinton mug shot. Instead, They Want to Speed Up Executions. Anthony Ray Hintons memoir of his wrongful imprisonment for 30 years for three murders he did not commit is a riveting account of the multiple outrages of the criminal justice system of Alabama. Our tax dollars that paid for the judge and the prosecutor that prosecuted him. No one knows the hardship created by our inefficient system more than I do, Mr. Hinton wrote. 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 did not sleep very well the night before Tuesdays presidential election. Hinton began his talk by explaining the context of his arrest, where he was charged with first-degree robbery, kidnapping and attempted murder. I dont believe the God that I serve is gonna let me die for a crime He knows I didnt commit.. I finally looked at you as a human being.. Hinton would smell burning flesh from the electric chair, also called Yellow Mama, because it was close to his cell. Their key piece of evidenceexpert testimony claiming the ballistics report of the bullets pulled from the victims matched a handgun found in Rays home. He was going to be convicted anyway. Hinton was 29 when was convicted and sentenced to die in the state's electric chair. Soon after, prosecutors pushed for conviction upon him, and his appeal for innocence was defeated. One of the longest serving death row prisoners in Alabama history and among the longest serving condemned prisoners to be freed after presenting evidence of innocence, Mr. Hinton becamethe 152nd person exonerated from death row since 1983 when he wasreleased on April 3, 2015. Although he spent nearly three decades on death row and solitary confinement for a crime that he didnt commit, Hinton said he still feels a kinship with returning citizens whose ballots represent another step in the direction of freedom and contributing to society as a free citizen of the United States. For more than 15 years, EJI attorneys repeatedly asked state officials to re-examine the evidence in this case, but former Jefferson County District Attorney David Barber, and Attorneys General from Troy King to Luther Strange, all failed to do so. In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital . March 22, 20185:57 AM. 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. Pain and terror: America's history of racism, Let sleeping dogs lie: Lynching memorial angers some. Hinton also had an alibi he was employedata warehouse at the time of the murders, and his boss said on the stand that Hinton was at work at the time of at least one of the murders, The Guardian reports. Mr. Hinton will speak at Notre Dame Law School about his wrongful conviction in 1985, his years on Alabama's death row, and the experience of freedom. He added that from the outset, this case exhibited many of the classic signs of innocence.. [18] He had previously spoken to the students of the Class of 2019, six months after his release, in 2015. Now a Community Educator with EJI, Ray is doing what he can to bring reform to the justice system. 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. Jesus didnt say, Hey, when an enemy come across you, I want you to hate him, says Ray. Hinton (portrayed in the movie by O'Shea Jackson Jr.) was arrested and convicted in Alabama in 1985 for the murders of two fast food restaurant managerswho worked at different places, and who were killed months apart that year, NBC News reports. Get to know others seeking Gods guidance and wisdom for life. You dont know freedom until its taken from you, Hinton told The Washington Post on Tuesday night. 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. Anthony Ray Hinton speaks to students on November 13, 2018, in the . The Supreme Court is considering a challenge to laws that protect websites from lawsuits, Lesson includes resources to help you talk with your students about traumatic events, Read Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech and explore themes such as the social conditions in the U.S. that led to the Civil Rights Movement. After 30 years in custody for crimes he did not commit, Mr. Hintons release is bittersweet. Anthony Ray Hinton. 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. Id., at 687-688, 694. Have students write a personal response summarizing the video How do you feel after seeing Hintons struggle with the criminal justice system? Then Anthony spent the first three years in the prison full of bitterness in his heart. Now, at 58, after spending decades behind bars, Hinton is free. But in order for me to be free, I had no choice but to pray for those men that did this to me. So, Ray made a decision. Mr. Stevenson said it was unclear whether Mr. Hinton would ever receive any compensation from the state. [3], In February 2014, the Supreme Court of the United States vacated the state court conviction in a unanimous per curiam decision. What was the turning point in prison for Hinton? 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. Hinton knew it was a case of mistaken identity and naively believed that the truth would prove his innocence and set him free. Moving forward, he chose to pray for those men who set him up instead. Mr. Hintons application was approved by the committee, and this session,State Senator Paul Bussman sponsored a bill to appropriate the funds to compensateMr. Hinton. Im Christel Berns. We have a system that treats you better if youre rich and guilty than if youre poor and innocent, and his case proves it. Discover God's peace now. Mr. Hinton walked out of the Jefferson County Jail a free man. His lawyer writes: Never have more guards, correctional staff and prison workers pulled me aside to offer assistance during the many years I have worked with Ray. Yes, Im going to write and spread His love because I love Him and His people, and my heart is to live for Him. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! They were both convicts on death row. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. The only evidence linking Hinton to the. The only expert willing to testify at that price was a civil engineer with very little ballistics training and limited by having one eye; he admitted in court to having trouble in operating the microscope. Hinton wasnt eligible to vote in the 2016 presidential election. 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. Mr. Hinton, 58, argued for decades that Alabama officials including the judge who oversaw his trial and is now retired had made a series of compounding mistakes after three shootings in 1985 that left two men dead and another wounded.