(Teacher Tip the three charts in the article can be shared and analyzed without having to read the entire article.). 24, 2019, 2:11 p.m. Anthony Ray Hinton, who spent nearly 30 years on Alabama's death row, was freed this morning after prosecutors told a judge they won't re-try him for the 1985 . [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. There is no question A 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. Then he found hope in sharing Christ during his nearly 30 years on death row. All Rights Reserved, U.S. History, U.S. Government & Civics, Criminal Justice, Legal Studies. In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. 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. [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. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Love your enemy. The only way that we will ever conquer hate is love.. He woke up at 5 a.m., showered, brewed himself some coffee and, not knowing how long he would have to wait, made himself breakfast that would stick to his ribs. Ray began to realize the person he had become wasnt the one his mother had raised him to bea man who loved God and followed the example of Jesus Christ. He added that from the outset, this case exhibited many of the classic signs of innocence.. In 2003, for instance, the Alabama attorney general said, The experts did not prove Mr. Hintons innocence, and the state does not doubt his guilt.. It took almost a decade for Mr. Hinton and his lawyers to recruit a panel of experts, including a former F.B.I. He has become an inspirational speaker, traveling the country and the world. What do you do when you tell a lawyer that youre innocent and he looks at you and says, The problem with that statement. I have never experienced anything like it.. His peaceful morning was quickly interrupted when police officers - with a warrant for Hinton's arrest - taunted, handcuffed and arrested the teenage Hinton. 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. But last year, the Supreme Court said that Mr. Hintons defense had been unacceptable, setting up a new trial and essentially forcing prosecutors to review the evidence for a case in which they acknowledged the forensic studies were paramount. Start your day together with God and the GOD TV team. On Friday, Mr. Hinton was presented with some of the modern conveniences that emerged during his decades in prison, including an iPhone. 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. 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. The panel questioned the findings of the Alabama authorities, but the state remained steadfast. An all-white jury would find Ray guilty of two counts of capital murder and sentence him to death by electric chair. [4] Hinton was portrayed by O'Shea Jackson Jr. in the 2019 film Just Mercy. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Mr. Hinton is the 152nd person exonerated from an American death row since 1973. He also works with the U.S. State Department in a global online exchange program teaching educators and students to use comics to find their voice and to solve pressing global issues. 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. If you didnt do it, one of your brothers did. Can God change your life? Ray was arrested, convicted, imprisoned, and sentenced to death for a crime he didn't commit. A polygraph test given by police exonerated him, but the judge (now-retired Circuit Judge James Garrett) refused to admit it at trial. 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. Moving forward, he chose to pray for those men who set him up instead. The prosecutors who filed the motion to dismiss the case did not respond to messages seeking comment, and, through a spokesman, the Alabama attorney general declined to be interviewed. Anthony Hinton (left) with attorney Bryan Stevenson following a hearing at which EJI argued all charges against Mr. Hinton must be dismissed immediately. 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. Searching for Justice explores criminal justice reforms unfolding across the country, as the leaders from both sides of the political aisle attempt to end mass incarceration by rethinking laws that some say have become barriers to work, housing, and economic stability. This lesson is part of NewsHours Searching for Justice series on criminal justice reform. 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 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 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. 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. 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. Hinton hopes that will change, and his vote on Tuesday gave him hope that it will change soon. Warm-up activity: Think, write, and share with a partner (virtual option create a Google doc or online discussion have students write their answers and respond to at least one other students answer). [5], While on death row, Hinton spent much of his time reading. Breaking Free From The Voice Of Perfection: How Gods Word For You Today: Jesus Is Your Friend, Remarkable Miracles That Are Available For You Too, Turn Down The Noise And Find God In Your Stillness, Prayer Is A Powerful Weapon 5 Effective Strategies For Breakthrough, What I Learned From The Chosen: God Loves Us Enough To Protect Us, Woman In Wheelchair Miraculously Takes Off Running During A Revival Service In Brazil. Today, as EJI Community Educator, hes a tireless and powerful advocate for abolition of the death penalty. A man released from prison after nearly 30 years on death row in Alabama has blamed his conviction on being black and poor. God made it possible for you to know. 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. One of his arresting officers explained his fate this way, after the prisoner told him he could prove he had been working at the time of one of the murders: You know, I dont even care whether you did or didnt do it In fact, I believe you didnt do it. In his book, The Awe of God, pastor and author, John Bevere describes the many ways having a genuine and holy fear of God enhances the good in one A man who makes a vow to the LORD or makes a pledge under oath must never break it. Get daily or weekly highlights from The 700 Club delivered to your inbox. 2. -- Anthony Ray Hinton spent more than half his life on death row in southern Alabama. And Anthony made a decision to accept the reality and still allow God to use him while in prison. Police arrest Anthony Ray Hintonthe man they believe committed three armed robberies that left two restaurant managers dead, and a third wounded. On February 24, 2014, the Supreme Court today unanimously granted relief to Anthony Hinton, finding that his trial lawyer was constitutionally deficient. New York Times bestselling book by Anthony Ray Hinton. 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.. Hinton was convicted of each of the two murders and sentenced to death. 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. Anthony Ray Hinton spent 30 years on death row for a crime he didn't commit. I have no respect for the prosecutors, the judges. We vacate the lower court's judgment and remand the case . This has nothing to do with luck. Stunned, confused, and only twenty-nine years . The reality is much worse as doctors find a large brain tumor behind Hes known as Johnny B. Badd from the World Wrestling Federation. If you have an immediate prayer need, please call our 24-hour prayer line at 800-700-7000. Because he was convicted of something, he didnt even do. Id., at 687-688, 694. I lived in hell for 30 years, so I dont want to die and go to hell. In 2018, Alabama residents who were previously convicted of felonies were able to register to vote under the Moral Turpitude Act of 2017. 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. Deputies escort Mr. Hinton in the courthouse during his trial. [2] Hinton was sentenced to death and held on the state's death row for 28 years before his 2015 release. Despite providing a solid alibi, Anthony Ray Hinton was still sentenced to death by the state of Alabama. Tennessee Lawmakers Lynching Comment Sparks Outrage, Compared to Neighboring Tennessee, Alabamas Execution Review Falls Short, Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Man Sentenced to Death in Arizona, Alabama Man Allegedly Held in Jail Freezer Dies of Hypothermia, 122 Commerce Street Montgomery, AL 36104 [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. If you think there is no reason for another book about a grave miscarriage of American justice, think again. Stunned, It was 1986. Convicted, he was sentenced to death and held in solitary confinement on Alabamas death row for 28 years, before being exonerated. [4], Doug Acker, a detective, attempted to persuade Hinton to sign a blank sheet of paper telling him [Hinton] that it was just to confirm that he had already read his rights. And, haltingly, he began to talk about mercy. Why me? In 1985, two Birmingham area fast-food restaurants were robbed and the managers, John Davidson and Thomas Wayne Vason, were fatally shot. Number four, youre gonna have a white judge. 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. After 12 more years of litigation, theU.S. Supreme Court reversedthe lower courts, and a new trial was granted. 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. Casting a ballot represents a culmination of Mr. Hintons victory over that system., Voting for the first time was like a breath of fresh air. Hinton wasnt eligible to vote in the 2016 presidential election. [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]. 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. Mr. Hinton thanked his supporters and legal team. Hinton was exonerated in 2015, when he was 59 years old, according to NBC News. Adam Desiderio/ABC. Anthony Ray, then a 29-year-old warehouseman, was mowing his mum's lawn when his life was torn apart in July 1985. 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. 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. Students will look at the ways race and other factors play a role in wrongful convictions. "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. Hinton was convicted of murdering two fast food restaurant managers and sentenced to death at the age of 29. Discover the book that broke his thirty-year habit on todays 700 Club. According to what we discussed this year the Now a Community Educator with EJI, Ray is doing what he can to bring reform to the justice system. To me this was a day of freedom dedicated to them, and all of the people who have been lynched, oppressed, or intimidated or disenfranchised from voting., From a symbolic perspective, it is deeply meaningful that Mr. Hinton voted today in Alabama, said Blair Bowie, legal counsel for the Campaign Legal Center, which focuses on voting rights restoration. On parole for petty theft, the 29-year-old was living with his mom and working as a day laborer. (You will need to make a copy of the document to edit it.). Soon after, prosecutors pushed for conviction upon him, and his appeal for innocence was defeated. Watch a trailer here. Still, even though Stevenson had new ballistics tests performed on Hintons behalf, the Alabama courts denied the appeal, after taking two years to deliberate. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Biden enlists potential rivals as advisers ahead of 2024, Their toddler took a nap in an Airbnb and fentanyl killed her. Theres five things theyre going to convict you to, the officer told him. Number two, a white man is gonna say you shot him, whether you shot him or not, believe, me I dont care, says Ray. Winner of the 2019 Moore Prize Finalist, Dayton Peace Prize, 2019 "An amazing and heartwarming story, it restores our faith in the inherent goodness of humanity." - Archbishop Desmond Tutu A powerful, revealing story of hope, love, and justice.
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