Anthony Ray Hinton

Anthony Ray Hinton is an Alabama man who was on death row for the murders he was accused of, against two restaurant managers, John Davidson and Thomas Wayne Vasona[1] in Birmingham, Alabama on February 25 and July 2, 1985.[2] He remained on death row for nearly 30 years,[3][4] often in solitary confinement.

In 2014 the US Supreme Court ruled his original defense lawyer was “constitutionally deficient” and his case should be retried since Hinton's defense lawyer wrongly thought he had only $1,000 to hire a ballistics expert to rebut the state’s case. The only expert willing to be a defence expert at that price was a one-eyed civil engineer with little ballistics training who admitted he had trouble operating the microscope.[2]

The Jefferson County district attorney’s office on Wednesday April 1, 2015 moved to drop the case after their forensics experts were unable to match crime-scene bullets to the gun. Prosecutors admitted they could not match bullets found at the crime scene with Hinton's gun (the only evidence in the original trial).[1]

On April 3, 2015, Hinton was released from the prison after Laura Petro, Jefferson County Circuit judge, overturned his conviction and all charges were dropped against him.[3][4] Hinton's representation was provided by the Equal Justice Initiative.[3] He is the 152nd person exonerated from death row in the United States since 1973 and the sixth in the state of Alabama.[1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Alabama man off death row after 28 years to jailers: You will answer to God". theguardian.com. The Guardian. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Phillip, Abbey (3 April 2015) Alabama inmate free after three decades on death row. How the case against him unraveled. The Washington Post, Retrieved 9 April 2015
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Daniella Silva. "Anthony Ray Hinton, Alaabama Man Who Spent 30 Years on Death Row, Has Case Dismissed". NBC News. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Alabama death row inmate freed after 30 years". BBC. 3 April 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.

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