“Race, poverty, inadequate legal assistance, and prosecutorial indifference to innocence conspired to create a textbook example of injustice. I can’t think of a case that more urgently dramatizes the need for reform than what has happened to Anthony Ray Hinton,” said Bryan Stevenson, writer of Just Mercy.
Anthony Ray Hinton spoke on Thursday, November 18th, at the Upper School MAD Assembly. Due to COVID regulations, assembly sessions are split up into two 35-minute sections: one for underclassmen and one for upperclassmen. However, this week’s assembly schedule was adjusted so that Mr. Hinton could tell his full story without interruption. He spoke for the duration of both sessions and afterwards, he answered questions proposed by Fieldston Student Government Co-Presidents, Lena Habtu and Eli Satlof. Forms III and IV tuned into his speech via a livestream from their advisory classrooms and Forms V and VI were able to witness him speak in the auditorium. Mr. Hinton’s speech was in honor of the Upper School’s MAD (Modified Awareness Day) surrounding the 2021 Summer Reading Book: Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy, which features Hinton’s story of bravery, pain, and strength.
Mr. Anthony Ray Hinton served 30 years on death row, even after clear evidence of his innocence was presented. He was the 152nd person to be exonerated from death row since 1983. The Equal Justice Initiative, which fought and succeeded in exonerating Mr. Hinton, wrote of his story.
“In 1985, two Birmingham area fast-food restaurants were robbed and the managers, John Davidson and Thomas Wayne Vason, were fatally shot. There were no eyewitnesses or fingerprint evidence; police had no suspects and pressure to solve the murders grew as similar crimes continued.
On July 25, 1985, a restaurant in Bessemer was robbed and the manager was shot but not seriously wounded. 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.
Police seized an old revolver belonging to Mr. Hinton’s mother, and state firearm examiners said that was the gun used in all three crimes. The prosecutor–who had a documented history of racial bias and said he could tell Mr. Hinton was guilty and ‘evil’ solely from his appearance–told the court that the State’s experts’ asserted match between Mrs. Hinton’s gun and the bullets from all three crimes was the only evidence linking Mr. Hinton to the Davidson and Vason murders.
Anthony Hinton, 29 years old with no history of violent crime, steadfastly maintained his innocence. A polygraph test given by police exonerated him, but the judge (now-retired Circuit Judge James Garret) refused to admit it at trial.
Mr. Hinton was appointed a lawyer who mistakenly thought he could not get enough money to hire a qualified firearms examiner. Instead, he retained a visually-impared civil engineer with no expertise in firearms identification who admitted he could not operate the machine necessary to examine the evidence. With no credible expert to challenge the State’s assertion of a match, Mr. Hinton was convicted and sentenced to death.
In 2014, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned his conviction based on his attorney’s deficient representation, and Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Laura Petro ordered a new trial.
The State’s evidence of a match was wholly discredited by three highly qualified firearms examiners, including the former chief of the FBI’s 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. Hinton’s gun, and found that her gun could not have fired the bullets from the third uncharged robbery.
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.”
Mr. Hinton was released from the Jefferson County Jail in Birmingham, Alabama, at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, April 3, 2015. He is now an EJI Community Educator and is described as “a tireless and powerful advocate for the abolition of the death penalty.” He also shares his story through his novel, now a New York Times Best Selling book The Sun Does Shine about how he found freedom even when he was trapped on death row and how he assimilated back into society after his exoneration. The Archbishop Desmond Tutu, describes Mr. Hinton’s novel saying, “an amazing and heartwarming story, it restores our faith in the inherent goodness of humanity.”
Hinton’s Novel, The Sun Does Shine.
Mr. Hinton’s words deeply resonated with the students and faculty of the Fieldston community. Emma Friedman (she/her), Co-Chief Editor of the Fieldston Political Journal, commented on this impact. “Something changed when Mr. Hinton stood in front of the podium and spoke to us. There used to be a flame of desire to fight injustice among the students. But after that Thursday morning when Mr. Hinton spoke, that flame transformed into a fire of determination to fight for change and it is spreading through our community.”
“Deputies escort Mr. Hinton in the courthouse during his trial.”
“Family embraced him outside the jail.”
“Anthony Hinton (left) with attorney Bryan Stevenson following a hearing at which EJI argued all charges against Mr. Hinton must be dismissed immediately.”
Mr. Hinton during his trial.
To learn more about Mr. Hinton, scroll through the resources below:
Oprah speaks on why she chose The Sun Does Shine as a necessary read for her book club:
Anthony Ray Hinton and Oprah Winfrey Interview on CBS Mornings:
Anthony Ray Hinton, “What Would You Do?”
Anthony Ray Tells His Story:
ABC News Exoneration After 30 Years:
