Posted on 04/03/2015 9:20:40 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
Anthony Ray Hinton was one of Alabama’s longest-serving death row inmates, having spent more than half his life incarcerated. Now, after 30 years of saying he is innocent in the murder of two men, the 58-year-old Hinton walked out of an Alabama jail on Friday, finally a free man.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
still rampant, 30 years ago
Anthony Ray Hinton walked off Death Row a free man, but we may never know the names of those who were wrongly convicted and executed.
“Everybody that played a part in sending me to death row, you will answer to God,”
The man is spot on.
It’s a shame that anyone would ever have to spend 30 years in jail to then be told later that they shouldn’t have spent that time in jail! Good grief!
Our govt is corrupt on every level. Corruption does not start at the state level or the national level. It starts at the local level including corrupt prosecutors determined to have a conviction, their bonuses, their promotions, and reelections; and caring little for the innocent caught in their snares. There is a reason why we have the highest incarceration rate in the world and it is because we have more criminally inclined citizens in this country. We have entirely lost sight of the fact that our founding fathers were extremely concerned about an unjust govt tormenting the citizens with cruel and unjust punishment, the idea of the presumption of innocence which is supposed to be the bedrock of our criminal justice system has been utterly forgotten.
“If the journalism in this piece is accurate, then it is an utter travesty and gives fodder to people who say racism is still rampant in America. “
He should sue for damages, and for criminal negligence on the part of the State. He won’t get back the 30 years, but seeing some of them go to jail and to have a bunch of money so at least the rest of his life will be a big departure from the past. If all is as reported, here “a Black life didn’t matter, and it should have.”
This is why I cannot support the death penalty. We cannot trust the government.
and lie detectors work both ways....but they can not be entered in as evidence in any case either for the prosecution or against it....
“The experts did not say it did come from the pistol or that it didn’t come from the pistol.”
—
Prosecutors scrambled to find long-lost evidence and rouse witnesses — some of whom might have died.
We don’t really know what happened. It is hard to build a case after 30 years. I would imagine most half-way descent lawyers could get someone off a murder conviction of 30 years ago if a lot of the witnesses have died and the evidence compromised.
All that said, from what little we know about the case now, I am not sure I could have convicted him.
But we need to remember that there were 12 jurors that heard the evidence then and all agreed that, beyond a reasonable doubt, that they man committed murder.
So do I believe he’s innocent? I don’t know.
This man was to get a new trial ..but the DA said they could not because after 30 years all the evidence is gone, witnesses are dead. No one is saying he's not guilty.
Even the mans own lawyer is saying he won't qualify for compensation from the state because of this....
Well said!
Heh. Yeah.
It’s amazing to me how many conservatives who rightly doubt the government’s ability to spend $10 wisely, trust the government to decide to end someone’s life.
A jury is “government”?
Good valid point
Because it it not legal to do so. I was thinking the same thing you were, why is this posed as if this was a smoking gun?
Regardless, its a shame that this man spent 30 years in prison. The evil lying prosecutors need to lose their licenses and the he needs to sue the state.
Wow. Sounds like every speaker at the Ferguson protests.
BUMP
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.