I cannot imagine what it will be like for Anthony Ray Hinton to rebuild his life after spending nearly half of it on death row for a crime should never have been convicted of.
Hinton, 59, wiped away tears as he lamented about the painstaking fight to clear his name in the 1985 fatal shootings of two Birmingham-area fast-food restaurant managers.
His capital murder convictions were finally tossed Thursday after years spent arguing that the revolver that police say was used in the slayings didn't match the evidence at the scenes.
"I want to say to the victims, 'I would continue to pray for you, just as I have for 30 years, a miscarriage of justice just not for me, but for the victims,'" Hinton told reporters before turning his attention to the prosecution's faulty casework.
"Everyone who played a part in sending me to death row," he added, "you will answer to God."
[...]
His attorney, Bryan Stevenson, said a combination of racial biases against Hinton, who is black, and his impoverished background worked against him in getting his conviction overturned sooner.
The backstory on this is that he was a victim of his poverty. He didn't have the money for a lawyer or experts, and the public defender he had paid hired a shyster "expert" who was so easily impeachable on the stand it was a joke. 29-year old HInton went to jail for a crime he did not commit, and spent 30 years facing the possibility of execution for that crime.
We really must abolish the death penalty in this country. It's barbaric and far too prone to the errors and evils of men.
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