There was no mention of the four people who were murdered in that Paterson bar 34 years ago. No mention of the fact that two juries found him guilty. Fact is Carter was never “exonerated.” Rather he was let out of prison in 1985 because a federal judge found that there had been “procedural errors” in the second trial. Despite eyewitnesses who tied Carter to the murder, as well as tons of other solid evidence, the prosecutors in Passaic County decided not to try the case a third time.
All this was ignored by Oprah and in the new movie. Just a tribute to Hurricane Carter. Like Denzel, Oprah owes the families of Carter’s victims (not to mention her loyal audience) an apology.
Despite eyewitnesses who tied Carter to the murder, as well as tons of other solid evidence
I don't know the details, but according to
Wikipedia:
"Carter was driving a white Dodge, matching the description of the car as white,and police stopped it and brought Carter and another occupant, John Artis, to the scene about 31 minutes after the incident. There was little physical evidence; police took no fingerprints at the crime scene, and lacked the facilities to test Carter and Artis for gunshot residue. None of the eyewitnesses identified Carter or Artis as the shooters. Carter, in fact, was brought to the hospital the evening of the shooting at approximately 4 a.m., and victim Willie Marins identified Carter as
not one of the shooters. On searching the car about 45 minutes later, Detective Emil DiRobbio found a live .32 caliber pistol round under the front passenger seat and a 12-gauge shotgun shell in the trunk. Ballistics later established that the murder weapons had been a .32 caliber pistol and a 12-gauge shotgun. The defense later raised questions about this evidence, as it was not logged with a property clerk until five days after the murders."
Apparently the only eye-witnesses were two thieves who'd been burglarizing a factory near the shooting that night - and they identified Carter as a shooter months after the shooting. They recanted several years later. Carter also had witnesses place him at a nearby nightclub at the time of the shooting. The most damning evidence to me seems to have been the guns, which weren't logged the night of the shootings but only after five days.
I'm no lawyer, but to me there seems enough reasonable doubt there to acquit if I'd been a juror.