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. Perhacs hired a civil engineer who had impaired vision and didnt have any forensic experience. I dont believe the God that I serve is gonna let me die for a crime He knows I didnt commit.. A man released from prison after nearly 30 years on death row in Alabama has blamed his conviction on being black and poor. Have students write a personal response summarizing the video How do you feel after seeing Hintons struggle with the criminal justice system? 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. 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. He organized a book club that was allowed to meet in the prison's law library. Four, youre gonna have a white judge. AMY GOODMAN: Anthony Ray Hinton was convicted of murdering two fast-food managers in separate robberies in 1985. However, the number of members also gradually became smaller when book club members were executed. Mr. Hinton, 29 then, was indigent, and the Supreme Court said last year that the lawyer appointed to represent him, Sheldon C. Perhacs, had mistakenly believed he had only $1,000 to hire an expert witness for the proceedings. This lesson uses a video segment from PBS NewsHours Searching for Justice series. Nominee for Best Memoir & Autobiography (2018) A powerful, revealing story of hope, love, justice, and the power of reading by a man who spent thirty years on death row for a crime he didn't commit. Please check your information and try again or call us at 1-800-759-0700. Anthony Hinton, 29 years old with no history of violent crime, steadfastly maintained his innocence. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Mr. Hinton is the 152nd person exonerated from an American death row since 1973. Anthony Ray Hinton speaks to students on November 13, 2018, in the . The gun belonged to his mother, but forensics experts hired by the state of Alabama claimed that it was the murder weapon. Birmingham, Alabama, 1985. The only evidence linking Hinton to the. 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. 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. In "True Justice" one of Mr. Stevenson's clients Anthony Ray Hinton discusses his arrest. 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. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. 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. All Rights Reserved, U.S. History, U.S. Government & Civics, Criminal Justice, Legal Studies. If you could speak with anyone interviewed in the video, what are two questions you would ask them? YOU HAVE 20,000 FOLLOWERS: $100 per post at a $5/CPM. YouTube | 700 Club Interactive "There's five things they're going to convict you to," the officer told him. And to show him what real love felt like and real love had no color. "If God hadn't intervened and sent me his best lawyer, within two years I would . 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. Read this article and answer the following questions. 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. 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. [4], The prosecution's only evidence at the trial was a statement that ballistics tests showed four crime scene bullets matched Hinton's mother's gun, which was discovered at her house during the investigation. But Hinton was ultimately convicted due to a gun that was discovered in his mothers home, where he lived. Today, as EJI Community Educator, hes a tireless and powerful advocate for abolition of the death penalty. Despite pleas by Mr. Hintons lawyers, who cited conclusions by newly enlisted specialists, the state refused for years to reconsider the evidence. You want to know why?, Number one, youre black. In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. [2] Hinton was sentenced to death and held on the state's death row for 28 years before his 2015 release. Now a Community Educator with EJI, Ray is doing what he can to bring reform to the justice system. Number one, youre Black. [2] Hinton was sentenced to death and held on the state's death row for 28 years before his 2015 release.[2][3][4][5][6]. Im Christel Berns. 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 managers who worked at different places, and who were killed months apart that year, NBC News reports. What do you think can be done to change these racial disparities and to keep cases like that of Mr. Hinton from happening. I mean ONLY.. 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. 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. Anthonys mother and best friend also were crushed by the outcome. I witnessed other inmates time run out, he said, and Id be lying if I said you dont ask yourself, Wow, is that going to happen to me?. With the help of his co-author Lara Love Hardin, Hinton conveys all the horror of his years in solitary confinement, barely able to breath in 120F (49C) summer heat, eating food that tasted like dust. 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. 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. March 22, 20185:57 AM. There was no evidence at all to tie Hinton to two of the three murders he was accused of, and he was locked in a supermarket warehouse cleaning floors when a restaurant manager 15 miles away was abducted, robbed and shot. In the interview, Hinton described how issues of race permeated his case. Among their efforts for criminal justice reform, the non-profit provides legal aid to those whove been imprisoned unjustly. Hinton was assigned an incompetent lawyer who was paid $1,000 by the state and then proceeded to hire an incompetent ballistics expert who guaranteed his conviction on fake evidence. That aint what He said. By Jennifer Edwards Staff Writer. Despite Rays ironclad alibi for at least one of the robberies, and the lack of solid evidence, prosecutors pushed for a conviction. Sen. Paul Bussman, R-Cullman, has proposed legislation to grant Anthony Ray Hinton $1.5 million over three years. Authorities arrested Hinton in 1985, after a string of robberies at restaurants in Birmingham. (Teacher Tip the three charts in the article can be shared and analyzed without having to read the entire article.). 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. Jacobs was afraid to publish or write her tale, but Douglass was not, and her story was published in many variations. Mr. Perhacss choice a man later described by a prosecutor as a one-eyed charlatan did little to help the defense, and Mr. Hinton was convicted and sentenced to death. Anthony was a man who loved God and followed the example of Jesus Christ. [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. This has nothing to do with luck. Hintons public defender was roundly criticized for his work hetried to appeal his case and routinely failed, according to The Guardian. Biden enlists potential rivals as advisers ahead of 2024, Their toddler took a nap in an Airbnb and fentanyl killed her. . Id., at 687-688, 694. Copyright 2022 GOD TV, Simco Media LLC. Hinton was freed on the morning Friday, April 3, 2015, the 152nd death row inmate exonerated since 1983, according to the Equal Justice Initiative. An all-white jury would find Ray guilty of two counts of capital murder and sentence him to death by electric chair. 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. Instead, They Want to Speed Up Executions. See her moment of surrender, and the miracle of life. 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. The two Harriets were termed abolitionists because they wanted slavery to be abolished. Mr. Hinton thanked his supporters and legal team. No one knows the hardship created by our inefficient system more than I do, Mr. Hinton wrote. His claims of innocence would fall on deaf ears, including those of his court-appointed lawyer.