On Thursday, November 18, 2021, the Fieldston community had the amazing opportunity of hearing from Anthony Ray Hinton during the annual Fall Modified Awareness Day (MAD) assembly.
The Fall MAD is when the entire Upper School community reflects on the summer reading book. The 2021 summer reading book was Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson. Anthony Ray Hinton’s story is told in detail in Stevenson’s book and the school was delighted to have the honor of hosting Hinton as the MAD guest speaker. Just Mercy is described as “An unforgettable true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to end mass incarceration in America–from one of the most inspiring lawyers of our time.” Hinton’s story was also featured in Just Mercy, the 2019 movie adaptation of Stevenson’s book starring Jamie Foxx, Michael B. Jordan and O’Shea Jackson Jr. as Hinton.
Stevenson founded the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) in 1989 in Montgomery, Alabama. This non-profit organization provides legal representation to those who have been denied a fair trial, including prisoners who have been wrongly convicted of crimes, poor prisoners without sufficient representation and many others. Stevenson is now the EJI Community Educator and a strong advocate for the abolition of the death penalty. As a part of his mission, Stevenson served as Hinton’s lead attorney, as Hinton is one of the countless black men who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes in the United States. Stevenson said, “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.”
Hinton spent 30 years on death row for a crime he did not commit. His journey in the U.S. prison system began in 1985 when he was arrested for the robbery of two fast-food restaurants in Birmingham, Alabama and the murder of their managers John Davidson and Thomas Wayne Vason. Davidson and Vason were both shot; and Hinton faced two capital murder charges based solely on the assertion that Hinton’s mother’s revolver was the murder weapon in both of these murders and a third uncharged crime. In truth, Hinton was arrested because there was pressure on the police to close the case, even though there was no evidence that connected him to the case.
In an effort to clear Hinton’s name, EJI attorneys hired the top three firearms examiners in the country. In 2002, these firearms examiners testified that Hinton’s mom’s revolver was not a match to the evidence from the crime scene. State prosecutors did not protest this new evidence, but nonetheless refused to correct their error or re-examine the case.
Finally, after 12 years of litigation, the Supreme Court overruled the lower courts, and Hinton was granted a new trial. During the new trial, the judge dismissed Hinton’s charges after the prosecution stated that scientists at the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences examined the evidence and confirmed that the bullets found at the crime scene did not match Hinton’s mother’s revolver. Then, at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, April 3, 2015, Hinton walked out of the Jefferson County Jail in Birmingham, Alabama as a free man for the first time in 30 years. He said, “the sun does shine” as he warmly embraced his close friends and family.
After being in police custody for 30 years, Hinton’s release was both joyous and sorrowful. “We are thrilled that Mr. Hinton will finally be released because he has unnecessarily spent years on Alabama’s death row when evidence of his innocence was clearly presented. The refusal of state prosecutors to re-examine this case despite persuasive and reliable evidence of innocence is disappointing and troubling,” said Stevenson.
Hinton was one of the prisoners that spent the longest time on death row in Alabama history and is also one of the longest serving prisoners to be freed after presenting evidence of innocence. Thanks to the work of EJI and organizations similar to it, Hinton was the 152nd person exonerated from death row since 1983.
The entirety of the Fieldston community was exceptionally grateful to have the opportunity to listen to Hinton’s deeply moving speech. Hinton’s words are truly necessary not only to hear, but to listen to. Hinton concluded the assembly by saying, “The criminal justice system is not broken, it’s doing exactly what it was designed to do.” These final words serve as a call to action for Fieldston–and the entire country–to tear down and rebuild the oppressive institution that the U.S. calls the criminal justice system.
Bryan Stevenson (left) and Anthony Ray Hinton (right)
