Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. 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 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.[2][3][4][5][6]. Hinton declined to sign it. Indifferent to these concerns, the Alabama legislature passed the new law this spring,making it more difficult to obtain adequate counsel and imposing more unfair filing requirements. 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. But Hinton was ultimately convicted due to a gun that was discovered in his mothers home, where he lived. According to what we discussed this year the And number five, youre gonna have an all-white jury., Anthony fought to claim his innocence. For a Google doc version of this lesson, click here. First, have students answer the following questions, either in class discussion or as written answers. According to Hinton, the officer who carried out his arrest said that he "didn't care whether I did it or not," guaranteeing he would be convicted. "[16] Kirkus Reviews calls the book, "a heart-wrenching yet ultimately hopeful story about truth, justice, and the need for criminal justice reform. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Theres five things theyre going to convict you to, the officer told him. Now He Has a Message for White America", "Anthony Ray Hinton, Alabama Man Who Spent 30 Years on Death Row, Has Case Dismissed", "Alabama man off death row after 28 years to jailers: You will answer to God", "I went to death row for 28 years through no fault of my own", "Alabama inmate free after three decades on death row. Im Christel Berns. Anthony Ray Hinton was released from prison in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday. Today, as EJI Community Educator, hes a tireless and powerful advocate for abolition of the death penalty. (You will need to make a copy of the document to edit it.). But it doesnt matter. Hinton mug shot. 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. And number five, youre gonna have an all-white jury.. 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. Ray had a message, and he taught that message to his neighbor Henry, though they only had one thing in common. Police seized an old revolver belonging to Mr. Hintons mother, and state firearm examiners said that was the gun used in all three crimes. A polygraph test given by police exonerated him, but the judge (now-retired Circuit Judge James Garrett) refused to admit it at trial. Hinton spent 28 years on death row for two robbery-murders in the Birmingham, Ala., area in the mid-1980s. But while Im here, everything around me gonna live. Gonna have a white D.A. A Christian man was falsely convicted of murder for 30 years, but he spent his time sharing Jesus inside the cells. In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and wrongfully charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. [11] Hinton's original defense lawyer had wrongly thought he had only $1,000 available to hire a ballistics expert to rebut the states case on evidence. What was the turning point in prison for Hinton? His claims of innocence would fall on deaf ears, including those of his court-appointed lawyer. Students will discuss systemic error in the criminal justice system and the real impact of wrongful convictions on individual lives. The books are still passed around from cell to cell, but the meetings in the prison library are over. 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. 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. 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. [4] Hinton's book received extremely positive reviews. However, the number of members also gradually became smaller when book club members were executed. Using television and the Internet, CBN is proclaiming the Good News in 149 countries and territories, with programs and content in 67 languages. Their key piece of evidenceexpert testimony claiming the ballistics report of the bullets pulled from the victims matched a handgun found in Rays home. They began, he said, with his arrest in one shooting that occurred while witnesses said he was at work miles away. 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. The only evidence that the state ever had claimed, connected Mr. Hinton, did not exist.. Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. The evidence against Hinton was scant: There were no fingerprints at the scenes and no witnesses who placed him there, according to the outlet. In the first two robberies, the managers were killed and there were no witnesses or physical evidence . Since Anthony Ray Hinton was exonerated and released from death row over two years ago, Alabama lawmakers have not only refused to compensate him for the three decades he spent on death row for a crimehe did not commit, but also passed legislation changing the appeals process in death penalty cases so that innocent people like Mr. Hinton now face aneven greater risk of being executed. Alabama inmate Anthony Ray Hinton walked out of prison Friday as a free man after 30 years on death row. Bryan Stevenson told media this is a textbook example of injustice.. EJI lawyer Charlotte Morrison explains. Anthony Ray Hinton did not sleep very well the night before Tuesdays presidential election. This article was published more than2 years ago. Then in 1998, the Equal Justice Initiative, or EJI, decided to take Rays case. Get a daily devotional and encouraging 2-3minute video direct to your inbox. This lesson is part of NewsHours Searching for Justice series on criminal justice reform. Anthony Ray Hinton. When life is unjust, turn your pain into purpose. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Mr. Hinton is the 152nd person exonerated from an American death row since 1973. What do you notice about the racial differences of incarceration in the United States. Do You Know These 14 Hebrew Names of God? Anyone can read what you share. An all-white jury would find Ray guilty of two counts of capital murder and sentence him to death by electric chair. Founded by a lawyer, Bryan Stevenson, it had a track record of overturning unjust convictions and in winning a. I hated those men that did this to me.. 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 . #ElectionDay #Vote2020 pic.twitter.com/J2eFOWnheD. In 1985 Hinton was charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of two fast-food restaurant managers in Birmingham, Ala., with the charges hinging on a revolver that had belonged to his. 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. What are your thoughts about the death penalty after reading this article? 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. Men indicted on separate officer assault charges. We vacate the lower court's judgment and remand the case . Executions are carried out in the name of the people of Alabama and we should all be concerned if we make oursystem less reliable and the execution of innocent people more likely. Then Anthony spent the first three years in the prison full of bitterness in his heart. Anthony Ray Hinton Exonerated After 30 Years on Death Row. with his arrest in one shooting that occurred while witnesses said he was at work miles away. Your natural reaction was it-it's over. But on July 31, 1985, 29-year-old Ray's life changes drastically when the police arrest him for a series of murders that Ray didn't commit. Their forensics experts were unable to match crime-scene bullets to Hinton's mother's gun. Then he found hope in sharing Christ during his nearly 30 years on death row. In this lesson, students meet. But that isnt what makes this a genuine spiritual experience: that comes from the nearly biblical capacity of the author to endure, to forgive, and finally to triumph. 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. But he was innocent. Despite pleas by Mr. Hintons lawyers, who cited conclusions by newly enlisted specialists, the state refused for years to reconsider the evidence. Subjects: U.S. History, U.S. Government & Civics, Criminal Justice, Legal Studies, Estimated time: One or two 50-minute class periods. In 1985 he was convicted of the murders of two restaurant workers in Birmingham, Ala. Thirty years later . That aint what He said. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. And you know why? I said, No. He said, You got a white man. 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 Macmillan Speakers Bureau. Death Row Exonoree Wednesday, April 12, 2023 8pm. But for all yall thats snapping the cameras, I want you to know there is a God.. 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. [4] Finally, Hinton was the last prisoner left on death row. The arresting officer told him chilling words he would never forget when authorities arrested him. 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. The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life, Freedom, and Justice, Rekindling the Power of God Within to Effect Change. If this is where God intends for me to be and die, this is where I die. Hes also written a book about his journey of forgiveness and redemption, hoping his story will inspire change and healing. 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. . [12] On April 1, 2015 the Jefferson County district attorneys office moved to drop the case. In 1985, Hinton was arrested and charged with two capital murders based solely on the assertion that a dusty revolver taken from his mother's home was the gun used in both murders and in a third uncharged crime. Love your enemy. The only way that we will ever conquer hate is love.. The lecture began with Hinton recounting the day of his arrest in extreme detail. You want to know why?, Number one, youre black. Anthony Ray Hinton Equal Justice Initiative. I was released from death row. Davidson was still alive when an exterminator came to the restaurant and found him in the restaurant cooler . Read this article and answer the following questions. Stunned, confused, and only twenty-nine years . [4], Hinton's initial appeals continued to be handled by his public defender, Sheldon C. Perhacs, who lost each of Hintons cases. 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. Sen. Paul Bussman, R-Cullman, has proposed legislation to grant Anthony Ray Hinton $1.5 million over three years. Number three, youre gonna have a white district attorney. What happened to make him stop accepting defeat and start fighting back? 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. Anthony Hinton (left) with attorney Bryan Stevenson following a hearing at which EJI argued all charges against Mr. Hinton must be dismissed immediately. I asked God to remove this hatred, says Ray. [4] Hinton was portrayed by O'Shea Jackson Jr. in the 2019 film Just Mercy. He was wrongfully convicted of two murders and served nearly three decades in jail before being released in 2015. and "Y'all blacks always sticking up for each other."[who?] Instead, he retained a visually-impaired civil engineer with no expertise in firearms identification who admitted he could not operate the machinery necessary to examine the evidence. After 30 years on death row, Anthony Ray Hinton was exonerated over two years ago. [5], In November 2014, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals closed Hinton's case. Disclamer: the number about Anthony Ray Hinton's Instagram salary income and Anthony Ray Hinton's Instagram net worth are just estimation based on publicly available information about Instagram's monetization programs, it is by . They gonna say you shot him. [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. On Tuesday, he cast a vote for president. Anthony Ray Hinton spent decades in jail for crimes he did not commit. Since his release, Hinton has spoken in various venues about the injustices of the Alabama judicial system and other issues related to his conviction and imprisonment. Hinton's case was taken up by the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. [5], While on death row, Hinton spent much of his time reading. Smyth maintains a comprehensive website and blog on all things comics in education at TeachingWithComics.com. Anthony Ray Hinton's story of being wrongfully convicted and serving almost thirty years on Death Row is one of gargantuan unfairness. Our tax dollars that paid for the judge and the prosecutor that prosecuted him. 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. (334) 269-1803 BY DEBORAH McKEON | TELEGRAM STAFF. Anthony Ray Hinton spent three decades on Alabama's death row for crimes he did not commit. He has spoken out against the death penalty, calling it a "form of lynching. A jury found him guilty, a judge sentenced him to death. Managers John Davidson and Thomas. Anthony Ray Hinton, age 61, now lives as a free man in the state of Alabama, where he was born and raised. In 1985 Anthony Ray Hinton was charged with the murders of two restaurant managers in Birmingham, Alabama. Watch a trailer here. 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. Read this article and answer the following questions. Nightline profiles Mr. Hintons release and his first days of freedom. The legislature has resisted approval of this payment, as state authorities say that he did not prove his innocence. Still, even though Stevenson had new ballistics tests performed on Hintons behalf, the Alabama courts denied the appeal, after taking two years to deliberate. [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. 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. After a few years, the club grew as the news spread quickly in the prison that reading was a good escape. So I believe in the promise of hope alive, he said. Jacobs was afraid to publish or write her tale, but Douglass was not, and her story was published in many variations. CBN is a global ministry committed to preparing the nations of the world for the coming of Jesus Christ through mass media. Despite the new evidence, the courts still refused to reopen Rays case. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. Im going to bring the best out of everybody that come in touch with me, says Ray. Living the Christian life is a journey. I am passionate in sharing Gods love to the world through the skills and talents God has blessed me with. 2. Hintons luck changed, however, when Bryan Stevenson, a lawyer with the Equal Justice Initiative, took on his case. Mr. Hinton spent 30 years on death row for a crime he did not commit. What were the charges brought against Hinton? 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. Having spent 30 years on. He has also guest lectured at multiple universities and travels the country giving professional development on comics as engaging literature. Authorities arrested Hinton in 1985, after a string of robberies at restaurants in Birmingham. Why me? "[14] He completed a memoir entitled The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row (2018), and has given readings and talks around the country about the book and his experiences. "Number one, you're black. Students will look at the ways race and other factors play a role in wrongful convictions. $200 per post at $10/CPM. In 2018, Alabama residents who were previously convicted of felonies were able to register to vote under the Moral Turpitude Act of 2017. It only takes the first two pages of the introduction by the authors equally remarkable lawyer, Bryan Stevenson, to make the reader appalled. 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 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. How have you felt the cost of life's unfairness? Rays mother, whod visited him almost every week since his incarceration, died in 2002. I finally looked at you as a human being.. Have your students watch the video and answer the questions below. It was there on a panel discussion, Reforming Criminal Justice in America . All the while, Mr. Hinton remained at a prison in south Alabama, awaiting his execution.