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. All the while, Mr. Hinton remained at a prison in south Alabama, awaiting his execution. In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. 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. Get a daily devotional and encouraging 2-3minute video direct to your inbox. What were the charges brought against Hinton? [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. Four, youre gonna have a white judge. Ray has a strong alibi for one of the incidents, and the supposed murder weapon, Ray's mom's gun, hasn't been fired in years, but the authorities refuse to consider this. Mr. Hinton, during an interview in which he sometimes cried and buried his head in his hands, lashed out at the officials whose decisions he said had kept him wrongly imprisoned. 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, 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, Hinton was exonerated in 2015, when he was 59 years old, according to, Thirty years ago, the prosecution seemed deemed to take my life from me, he continued, according to an NPR, Hintonstarted a book club while he was incarcerated, and went on to write a memoir about his experience, called, , Hinton has also found success as a motivational speaker and fierce advocate for prison reform, having been invited to dozens of universities and conferences to share his story since his release, according to the, "Just Mercy" opens in limited release on Christmas Day, and hits theaters everywhere on Jan. 10. 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. Number one, youre black. [5], While on death row, Hinton spent much of his time reading. If you have an immediate prayer need, please call our 24-hour prayer line at 800-700-7000. Prosecutors admitted that they could not match four bullets found at the crime scene with Hinton's mother's gun, and that this was the only evidence offered in the original murder trial. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! [4] Hinton's book received extremely positive reviews. On February 23, 1985, 49-year-old John Davidson, the assistant manager of Mrs. Winner's fried chicken restaurant in Birmingham, Alabama, was fatally shot in an after-hours robbery. I was released from death row. 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. Pain and terror: America's history of racism, Let sleeping dogs lie: Lynching memorial angers some. Pastor Glen Berteau wants to reignite the fire of God within believers that have allowed their faith to become dormant. AMY GOODMAN: Anthony Ray Hinton was convicted of murdering two fast-food managers in separate robberies in 1985. Anthony Ray Hinton was released from prison in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday. Anthonys mother and best friend also were crushed by the outcome. "Thirty years ago, the . Im going to bring the best out of everybody that come in touch with me, says Ray. He added that from the outset, this case exhibited many of the classic signs of innocence.. [4], Hinton's initial appeals continued to be handled by his public defender, Sheldon C. Perhacs, who lost each of Hintons cases. Anthony was a man who loved God and followed the example of Jesus Christ. That aint what He said. Alabama law provides that compensation may be awarded to a wrongfully incarcerated person if the Committee on Compensation for Wrongful Incarceration finds that hemeets the eligibility criteria, but applying for compensation is often a meaningless exercise because the statute requires alegislative enactment toappropriate the necessary funds. Davidson was still alive when an exterminator came to the restaurant and found him in the restaurant cooler . Men indicted on separate officer assault charges. Moving forward, he chose to pray for those men who set him up instead. Ray was arrested, convicted, imprisoned, and sentenced to death for a crime he didn't commit. On Tuesday, he cast a vote for president. Anthony Ray Hinton. Start your day together with God and the GOD TV team. 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. He has become an inspirational speaker, traveling the country and the world. 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. A Christian man was falsely convicted of murder for 30 years, but he spent his time sharing Jesus inside the cells. 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. Biden enlists potential rivals as advisers ahead of 2024, Their toddler took a nap in an Airbnb and fentanyl killed her. FLORENCE -- Anthony Ray Hinton was mowing the grass outside the house he . Share your prayer requests, receive prayer and pray for others! In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. (S. Pelley, Life After Death Row, 60 Minutes, January 10, 2016.) (Teacher Tip the three charts in the article can be shared and analyzed without having to read the entire article.). Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! After 12 more years of litigation, theU.S. Supreme Court reversedthe lower courts, and a new trial was granted. 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 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. 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. Anthony Ray Hinton, an inmate on Alabama's death row, asks us to decide whether the Alabama courts correctly applied Strickland to his case. "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. 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. After a new round of analysis, prosecutors wrote, state experts found that they could not conclusively determine that any of the six bullets were or were not fired through the same firearm or that they were fired through the firearm recovered from the defendants home.. Mr. Hinton thanked his supporters and legal team. They gonna say you shot him. His book is a harrowing masterpiece 'Let sleeping dogs lie': Lynching memorial angers some Anthony Ray Hinton. Officers had retrieved a handgun from Mr. Hintons home and, after analyzing it and the recovered bullets, concluded that the shootings were tied. Students will examine the challenges faced by individuals wrongfully convicted of felonies. 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). Anthony Hinton. Hinton was a special guest and speaker at 442 Orange St. on Tuesday evening for an event honoring the innocent on death row hosted by Jewish society Shabtai. [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]. After 28 years of living in a cell that was five . Police arrived at the house near Birmingham, Alabama, and arrested him for. After 30 years in custody for crimes he did not commit, Mr. Hintons release is bittersweet. Ive always felt that I have the Supreme Lawyer, says Ray. His claims of innocence would fall on deaf ears, including those of his court-appointed lawyer. What evidence was given? 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. 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. 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.