[MUSIC PLAYING]
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]
- For 30 years, Anthony Ray
Hinton was a dead man walking.
[CRYING]
- Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Lord.
- Prosecution seemed deemed
to take my life from me.
- 58 years old, Hinton lived
more than half his life
inside a cage,
Holman Correctional
Facility in southern Alabama.
Today, he's seeing
and experiencing
things for the first
time in decades.
- Oh, my goodness.
So let's just have--
- He is welcomed home,
a party in his honor
hosted by the Equal
Justice Initiative,
led by attorney Bryan
Stevenson and his team
of attorneys who fought
for decades to win
Hinton's freedom.
- Thank you for giving
me my life back.
Just being here
as a team, you can
say that you got an
innocent man off death row.
- His nightmare began in 1985.
Ronald Reagan was president.
"Back to the Future"
was a box office hit.
And under the cover of darkness,
two Birmingham restaurant
managers were shot
dead at closing time
just months apart--
a third victim, another man
who survived the shooting,
and helped identify
29-year-old Anthony Ray Hinton
as the killer.
You're a free man now.
What does that mean to you?
- It means everything.
I mean, you never think
about your freedom
until it's taken away from.
You couldn't put
a price tag on it.
Got my $12 back already.
- So much about the
world has changed.
But the greatest still is
a world without his mother.
She died while he
was locked away.
- It couldn't get
no lower for me.
I'm not ashamed of it.
I'm proud of it.
That was the love of my life.
- He goes back to the home they
shared together, now abandoned.
- Kind of hate to
see it in this shape.
- It's his first time
there since the night it
was all taken away.
This is the room where Hinton's
mother kept her 38 caliber
revolver.
Police said it was
the murder weapon.
Hinton's court appointed public
defender hired a supposed
ballistics expert to
dispute the prosecution's
claim about the murder weapon.
A persuasive expert he was not.
So his ballistics
expert was blind.
- In one eye, yes,
that's correct.
- He had to ask how to
turn on the machine.
He couldn't see.
He had to ask somebody,
please help me.
So when we put him on
the stand as my witness,
they crucified him.
I said, they're going
to find me guilty.
- Hinton was sentenced to death.
He was ordered to spend
the remainder of his life
in prison living
inside a 5 by 7 cell.
- You pretty much sleep
in a fetal position
because your feet
hang over the bed.
You only have a
bed that is mounted
to the wall and a toilet.
And that's what I
lived in for 30 years.
They took my 30s, my 40, my
50, but what they couldn't take
was my joy.
I couldn't do a thing
about the years.
But I could control my joy.
- 53 inmates were
executed at Holman
while Hinton was on death row.
- My darkest memory would
be seeing so many people
that I got to know be executed.
- He languished in
prison for years
before his case
reached appeals court.
- I had never been so convinced
of someone's innocence
than I had in Mr. Hinton's case.
No one asked them.
- Judge Sue Bell Cobb was
one of those appellate court
judges who believed his story.
There was no
incriminating evidence.
He didn't have anything
from the robbery.
There were no fingerprints.
- This is extremely unusual.
- His appeal was denied,
but his team kept fighting.
- We'd exhausted every
state court appeal,
and it was the
United States Supreme
Court that finally intervened.
- The result was a
new trial, the break
Hinton had been waiting for.
But just a few weeks
ago, the state of Alabama
dropped the case after a
new look at the evidence
could not match the
bullets to the gun.
And Hinton was released.
- Since I've been locked up 30
years and finances is tight,
$5 a slice.
- I don't sense any bitterness.
Why is that?
- Bitterness kills the soul.
I can not hate because my
bible teaches me not to hate.
I've seen hate at its worst.
What would it profit me to hate?
I want you to know
there is a god.
- Yes, there is.
- He sits high,
but he looks low.
- Yes.
- Thank you, Lord.
- He will destroy, but
yet, he will defend.
And he defended me.
[END PLAYBACK]
[APPLAUSE]
ANTHONY RAY HINTON: Thank you.
Let me start off by saying how
fitting it is to be in Seattle.
You didn't disappoint
me in the rain.
But 29 years ago, I tried
out for the Seattle Mariners
and was told to come back.
For I am, or was, a
great baseball player.
All through high school,
my batting average
was .618 a season.
I made All-Star
every year, and I
had hoped to make
it to the pros,
but then hell opened its doors.
30 years of pure hell I lived in
because eight racist white men
had the power, the means, and
the motive to put me in a 5
by 7.
Those eight white men
had every intention
of executing me for a crime
they knew that I didn't commit.
I truly wish that I
could look you in the eye
and tell you that the state of
Alabama made an honest mistake.
I wish I could
look you in the eye
and tell you race had
nothing to do with it.
But the state of Alabama
didn't make an honest mistake,
and race had everything
to do with it.
I have to ask myself
what type justice
system we have in this
country that we can put
a man in a hole
for 30 years simply
because of the color of his
skin and because the only thing
that the state of Alabama
said linked me to the murder
was a gun, ballistics.
US citizens should
ask yourself, how
is it that it would take
30 years to determine
whether something match
or don't match, 30 years?
You wake up one morning in July.
And I don't know
if any of you ever
had the pleasure of
being in Alabama in July,
but I'm fixing to
tell you something.
This is true.
You don't want to come
to Alabama in July.
It's too hot.
And so this hot day, I woke
up like any other morning,
and about 12, 1 o'clock in
the afternoon, my mother
was in the kitchen.
And I went in to get a
glass of her lemonade.
And as I was pouring this
lemonade, my mother asked me,
was I going to
revival that night?
And I said, yes, ma'am,
for in the South,
no matter how old you
get, you say, yes, ma'am,
and no, ma'am, yes, sir, and
no, sir, out of pure respect
for your elders.
And so I said, yes,
ma'am, I'm going,
and I got this glass of
lemonade and went outside.
About 15 minutes later, I
brought the glass back inside,
and there my mother was
again in the kitchen.
She said, what time
revival start tonight?
And I said 7 o'clock, Mama.
And she looked at her
watch, and she said, well,
you got time to go out
there and cut that grass.
I gave my mother this baby
look, and it usually worked,
but it didn't work this day.
And I looked at my mother, and
I said, Mama, I promise you.
Tomorrow I will cut that grass.
My mother looked at
me, and she said,
I'm trying my best
to see how did
you get you'll cut the grass
tomorrow out of me telling
you to go cut the grass.
And she gave me that look
that only she could give me,
and she finally said, boy,
you better get out there
and cut grass.
And I goes outside, and
I fire up the lawn mower.
And 25 minutes into
cutting the grass,
I just happened to look up.
And there stood
two white gentlemen
that I had never seen before.
I cut the lawn mower off,
and I said, can I help you?
One of the gentleman
said, yes, we
are detectives from
Birmingham Police Department.
We're looking for
Anthony Ray Hinton.
I said that would be me.
Again, how can I help you?
He said, we have a
warrant for your arrest.
And I said, for what?
He said, we will explain
that to you later,
but right now, we want
you to put your hands
behind your back.
I complied.
I put my hands behind my back.
They put the handcuffs
on me, proceeded
to put me in the police car.
And I said, hold up.
At least allow me
the chance to go in
and tell my mother that I'm
being arrested for something.
The detective said, we can't
let you go back in the house,
and we argued for
about two minutes.
And finally, the other detective
said, let him go and tell
his mother he's being arrested.
And I go in, and I just show
my mother the handcuffs.
And like any good mother, she
began to scream and holler.
What are those handcuffs
doing on my baby?
One of the detectives
said, take him outside
while I stay in here
and talk to his mother.
A few minutes later,
he comes outside,
and we proceeded to
go to the county jail.
He turned around, and he said,
Anthony, do you own a firearm?
I said no.
He said, do your
mother own a firearm?
I said yes and
told him what kind.
Every day, any one that meets
me that are aware of this case,
they ask me one question.
Why did you tell the
police about a gun
they had no knowledge of?
And I tell them that all my
life, my mother have always
told me, if you
haven't done anything,
you have no reason to lie.
If you haven't done anything,
you have no business running.
That day, I told the truth.
They dropped me off
at a substation.
They turned around and go
back to my mother's house
and talk to her, and
she gives them the gun.
They kept the gun.
They come pick me
up, and we proceeded
to go to the county jail again.
I asked these detectives
at least 50 times,
why am I being arrested?
And they never would respond.
And after going
[INAUDIBLE],, the detective,
why are y'all arresting me,
this seemed to set the detective
off.
He turned around.
He looked at me, and
he said, you really
want to know why
we arresting you?
I said yes.
He said, we charging
you with first degree
robbery, first
degree kidnapping,
first degree attempted murder.
I said, oh, you
got the wrong guy.
He said, let me
tell you something
and let me tell it
to you right now.
I don't care whether
you did or didn't do it,
but I'm going to make sure
you are found guilty of it.
I said, for a crime
that I didn't commit?
He said, you must have
a hearing problem,
because I just told you
I don't care whether you
did it or didn't do it.
He said, but you remember this
if you remember nothing else.
I am going to make sure that
you're found guilty of it.
We drove a little father,
and he turned around.
And he said, and
by the way, there's
five things that are
going to convict you.
Would you like to
know what they are?
And I said yes.
He said, number
one, you're black.
Number two, a white man is
going to say you shot him.
Whether you shot him
or not, I don't care.
He said, number
three, you're going
to have a white prosecutor.
Number four, you're going have
a white judge, and number five,
you're going to have
an all-white jury.
He said, do you know
what that spell?
And he looked at me, and he
said, conviction, conviction,
conviction,
conviction, conviction.
And as we got to
the police station,
they put me in this holding
cell for about 2 and 1/2 hours,
and finally, the
detective came in.
And I said, Detective,
can you please
tell me the date and the time
that these crimes took place?
He goes through his
notes, and he tells me
the date and the time.
And I reply, Detective, if
you're telling me the truth,
it couldn't have
been me, for I was
at work at that particular
date and that particular time.
And I said, thank God.
I said, thank you, Jesus.
My supervisor
happened to be white.
Here's his phone number.
Here's the address
where I work at.
You can go out and check.
And he left.
About 4 and 1/2 hours
later, he came back in.
And he said, I have
good news and bad news.
The good news is we're no
longer going to charge you
with first degree robbery,
first degree kidnapping,
first degree attempted murder.
Your alibi checks out.
He said, but now, the bad news.
We have decided that
we're going to charge you
with two counts of first
degree capital murder.
I said, but Detective,
I haven't killed anyone.
He said, didn't you remember
what I told you on the way
here?
I don't care whether you
did it or didn't do it.
He said, that
still is in effect.
He looked at me, and he
said, and by the way,
I truly believe
you didn't do it.
He said, but since y'all is
always taking up from one
another, take this
rep for your homeboy.
With tears down my eyes
and running down my cheeks,
I looked at this detective.
And I said, Detective, I don't
have a homeboy in this world
that I would take this rap for.
I goes before a judge.
A judge read me my
rights and tell me
what I'm being charged with.
He tells me and asks me,
do you have an attorney?
And I said no.
He said, can you
afford an attorney?
And I said no.
He looked back in his courtroom,
and he called this attorney
up front and told
this attorney that he
wanted him to represent me on
two counts of capital murder.
Without even asking me my name,
the attorney looked at me,
and he said, I did not go to
law school to do pro bono work.
I looked at this
attorney, and I said,
would it make a
difference to you
if I told you that
I was innocent?
The attorney looked
at me, and he said,
the problem with that statement
is that all y'all, y'all always
doing something and then
saying you didn't do it.
This is the attorney that
I had to go and believe
that was going to represent me
to the best of his knowledge.
I sit in jail a year and a
half before I go to trial.
In that year and a half, I've
seen this attorney maybe twice.
I go to trial, and my trial
lasted for about three weeks.
The jury come back
with a guilty verdict.
The judge proudly
stand up and say,
Anthony Ray Hinton, you
have been found guilty
on two counts of
capital murder, and it
is the order of this court
that I sentence you to death.
And that judge had the
audacity to say, "may God
have mercy on your soul."
The prosecution
went out that day
and told the media that
today the state of Alabama
got the worst killer that
ever walked the streets
off the streets that day.
Only it wasn't true.
And on December 17, 1986, I
was transported to death row
in Atmore, Alabama.
Once arriving at
Atmore, Alabama,
for the next three
years, I did not
say a word to another human
being for three years.
I went into this dark
place, this place
where I didn't even think
that I could go myself.
I went into this place where
I didn't want to see anyone.
I didn't want to
hear about anyone,
and that was my refuge,
this dark place.
For three years, every time the
guard would ask me a question,
I would take a pen or pencil
and write my response.
But never would I speak.
Going into the
fourth year, I woke
up at approximately 1:00 AM
to the sound of a grown man
crying, a man that I had
lived by for three years
and never asked him his
name or where he was from.
I wasn't there to
get to know anyone.
I wasn't there to
befriend anyone.
All I knew I was there
for something I didn't do.
But at an early age, my
mother taught me compassion.
My mother told me no matter
what one does in life,
he or she still
deserves compassion.
And it was that compassion that
I hollered through this brick
wall, and I asked this
gentleman, was he OK?
It took this man awhile to
respond, but finally he said,
I just got word
my mother passed.
I told him I was
sorry to hear that,
and I said, if anyone's
going to argue your case,
your mother will argue
your case before God.
I told him a corny joke,
and we both kind of
laughed a little bit.
And I laid back down.
And at 6:00 AM, I woke up.
And I realized that my voice
and my sense of humor was back.
I tell people
everyday that I was
born with two things if
nothing else in this world.
I was born to a mother who
loved me unconditionally,
and I was born with
a sense of humor.
I'm just a big old country boy
that no matter how beautiful
you are, no matter how
young you are, old you are,
if you walk in there, I just
happened to see you stumble
and fall, I will be the first
one to run and help you up.
I will be the first one
to ask you, are you OK?
But the moment you
tell me you're OK,
I'm going to laugh
at you for falling.
I just believe that laughter
is good for the soul.
And that morning, I woke up
and realized my sense of humor
was back.
The state of Alabama was in the
process of executing four men,
and they had already
executed two.
And I called this guard up to
my cell, and I said, Officer,
is there anything
you can give me
so I won't have to smell
that flesh burning?
The officer looked at me,
and he said, no, there's
nothing I can give you.
But if it's a
consolation to you,
one day, you'll get used to it.
And he looked at me, and he
said, and by the way, one day,
somebody will smell
your flesh burning.
And it was at that moment that
I sit back down on this bunk
bed that was too small,
and I told my body
that the mind had to leave.
In 30 years, I witnessed
54 men walk by my cell
only to be executed.
Five men had decided that
they no longer could take it.
They hung themself.
And three other men decided that
they would slash their wrists
and bleed out.
And I kept saying, how long
can I survive this madness?
How long will it be before
they come and get me?
But in the meantime
until that time come,
all I knew that I had to
somehow, up here, escape.
And as I sit on that bunk
bed, and I looked at my body,
and I said, body, the
mind have to leave.
And it was as though my body
was talking back to me and said,
do you promise to come back?
And I said yes.
And as soon as my body gave me
permission to leave, I left.
Of all of the
places in the world
to go, for whatever
reason, I wanted
to go see Queen Elizabeth.
Please don't ask me why a
29-year-old black male wanted
to go see Queen Elizabeth.
I don't know.
But that's who I wanted to see.
And in my mind, I visualized.
And showing up at the
palace, I told the guard
that I was there
to see the queen.
They goes in.
They tell the queen.
She invites me in,
and we sit down.
And we talked about Prince
Charles, Prince William,
Prince Harry, and of course, the
tragedy of Lady Princess Diana.
About 30 minutes into
this conversation,
the queen realized
that she hadn't
offered me anything to drink.
And she finally
looked at me, and she
said, (ENGLISH
ACCENT) Mr. Hinton,
would you like some tea?
And I told her I
would love some tea.
And she said, (ENGLISH
ACCENT) what would
you like in your tea?
And I told her some lemon.
She tell the guard to go
out and bring me some lemon,
and I put the lemon in my
tea, and we continued to talk.
And I finally stand up and tell
the queen, I must be leaving.
Now that I can go wherever
I want in my mind,
I didn't stop there.
I decided that I
would do something
that I said I would never do.
I decided that I
would get married.
And as a young boy, I said
I would never get married.
But I decided that I would
marry the talented and beautiful
actress, Halle Berry.
Halle Berry and I
stayed married up here
for 15 long, beautiful years.
And if there's such a
thing as a perfect wife,
Halle Berry was
the perfect wife.
She always said, yes,
dear, and it's OK, dear.
And what I loved most about
her, she didn't spend any money.
And then the guard was there
calling me, and he said,
Anthony, I've been calling
you for 10 minutes.
Where you was?
I said, I was gone.
He said, Anthony, you
have a legal visit.
I said, I don't have an attorney
because the state of Alabama
don't appoint you an attorney
during post-conviction.
He said, Anthony, well,
somebody is out there
pretending to be a lawyer.
Why don't you get dressed
and go see who it is?
I get dressed, and
I go out there,
and there's this
lawyer from Boston.
I asked his lawyer who sent him.
He tell me a man by the name
of Bryan Stevenson of Equal
Justice Initiative.
I asked this lawyer,
who was Bryan Stevenson,
and who was Equal
Justice Initiative?
And he began to tell me.
He tell me how great this
Mr. Bryan Stevenson is.
And I looked at
this lawyer, and I
said, you keep
telling me how good
and how great
Bryan Stevenson is.
But he can't be
that good, I said,
for because he have already
made one fundamental mistake.
And he said, what would that be?
I said, did you not
say you from Boston?
He said yes.
I said, well, had this great
Mr. Bryan Stevenson contact me
first, he would have known
that I am a beloved Yankee fan.
And there's no way a
Yankee fan and a Boston fan
could ever work together.
I said, but for your
sake, I'm willing to put
my personal feelings aside
and let you work on my case.
And for the next three years,
this lawyer worked on my case.
Came back every year to
tell me what he was doing,
what he was trying
to do, and then going
into the fourth year, he
said, Anthony, I really
believe I can get you
a life without parole.
And I said, get who a
life without parole?
And he said I can get you.
I said, life without parole
is for guilty people,
not innocent people.
I said, I told you
that I am innocent.
I said, you want me
to stand up and say
that I did something
when I didn't
in order to save my life.
I said, I could never
stand up and tell that lie.
I said, if the
state of Alabama is
hell bent on executing
me for a crime
we know that I didn't
commit, so be it.
I said, at some point, at
some time, all of us must die.
I said, but I don't want
to die, and I definitely
don't want to die for
something that I didn't do.
I said, but I would never stand
up and say I did something
when I didn't do it.
I said, I'm fixing
to tell you something
that my mother told me
when I was 12 years old.
My mother called
me, and she said,
if you are man enough to
bend down and pick up a rock,
and if you're man enough
to throw that rock,
you should be man enough to
say you throwed that rock.
I said, this is one
rock I didn't throw.
Therefore, I could never stand
up and say I throwed this rock
when I didn't.
I said, and since you
don't believe in me,
I have no choice
but to fire you.
He looked, and he
said, are you serious?
I said yes.
I said, I need a lawyer
that believes in me,
but more important,
I need a lawyer
that is willing to go to
jail for me if necessary.
I said, but I really truly
thank you for what you've done
and what you were trying to do.
I said, and after today,
you no longer represent me.
And as he was going
out the front door,
and they were taking
me back toward my cell,
something in my
mind said, you've
got to be the dumbest
person in the world.
You fired the only
lawyer that you had.
And just as that thought entered
my mind, another thought said,
you did the right thing.
Always stand up for
what you believe in.
Always stand up for principle.
And as I got closer to my cell,
the guard was watching TV.
And I asked this guard
what was he watching.
He said, I'm watching
Bryan Stevenson.
And I said, oh, that's the man.
I said, you mind if I stand
here and listen at him a moment?
He says, sure.
Bryan Stevenson was talking
about why we don't need a death
penalty in this country,
and for whatever reason,
I knew at that moment
this is the man
that I needed to represent me.
Later that night, I
wrote Mr. Stevenson
my letter thanking him
for sending the lawyer,
and I told Mr. Stevenson
that I would like
for him to become my lawyer.
I said, but before you
say yes or no, all I ask
is that you read my transcript.
I said, once you read my
transcript, if you find
one thing in my transcript
that points to my guilt,
do not worry about
becoming my lawyer.
Do not worry about
sending me a lawyer.
I am perfectly willing
to die for something
that I know I didn't do
and the state of Alabama
know I didn't do.
About three months
later, I get a reply
from Mr. Stevenson saying
he would read my transcript.
Five months later,
I get a letter
saying that he had
made arrangements
to come to death row to see me.
I cannot explain, but the
moment I shook this man's hand,
I knew that God had
sent me his best lawyer.
And as we sit there, we
talked about our childhoods.
And finally, we
got into the case.
I said, Mr. Stevenson,
if no two guns is alike,
the state of Alabama is lying,
and I know they're lying.
If no two guns is alike,
those bullets couldn't match.
And I said, Mr. Stevenson,
I need you to do me a favor.
He looked me at me, and he
said, what is the favor? i said,
I need you to hire a
qualified ballistic expert.
I said, Mr. Stevenson, all
my life I lived in the South.
I don't want you to hire
just any qualified expert,
but I need this qualified
expert to be a white Southerner,
and he must be a male.
I said, Mr. Stevenson, you
can go out and find the best
white female in the country.
Her word is no good
on the witness stand
in the state of Alabama.
I said, and it definitely
cannot be a person of color.
I said, Mr. Stevenson, it has
to be a white Southern male.
The state of Alabama only
recognize one of their own.
And I said, Mr. Stevenson,
I need this white man
to be the best of the best.
I need him to believe
in the death penalty.
But above all of that, I need
him to just tell the truth.
Mr. Stevenson left
that day and told me
that he would try and find
this particular expert.
About six months
later, I get a call
that said call your attorney.
He tells me that he found three
of the world-renowned experts.
Two of them live in Texas, and
one of them live in Virginia.
He said, they are
the best of the best.
He said, but I
need to inform you
that these three men only
testify for the prosecution.
They have never testified
for the defense.
He said, in other words,
what I'm trying to tell you,
these men put men on death row.
They have never
testified to get one off.
I said Mr. Stevenson, did
you remember to ask them
would they just tell the truth?
And he said, they
said they would tell
exactly what the evidence say.
I said, if you can afford
it, hire those three men.
I can't tell you the date
that they came to Alabama,
but they came on three
separate occasions.
Every one of them did
their own testing,
and then they came
to the conclusion
that the bullets that the state
of Alabama said match indeed
did not match.
They even did
something that I didn't
know they were trying to do.
They even tried to
make the gun match,
and they still
couldn't make it match.
We get this new evidence, and
we go to the attorney general,
a man by the name
of Bill Pryor, ask
him to re-examine the bullets.
And he was quoted as
saying, "it would be
a waste of the taxpayer money.
It would be a waste of my time
to take one hour to reexamine
those bullets."
And for not doing his
job, George W. Bush
appointed him to a federal
lifetime appointment.
Once he leave office, another
attorney general take over,
and he too refused to take one
hour to reexamine the bullets.
He lose in the next
election, and a man
by the name of Luther Strange--
we go to him, and he too
refused to take one hour
to reexamine the bullets.
I sit on Alabama death
row an extra 16 years,
and while i was
sitting there, I lost
the love of my life, my mother.
And I told them Mr
Stevenson, once I found out
that my mother had passed,
I told Mr. Stevenson
I didn't give a damn
about that case.
If the state of Alabama
wanted to hang me,
they could do it today.
If the state of Alabama
wanted to execute me,
they can do it today.
I don't care no more.
I didn't see me being in
the world without my mother.
And I hung up.
I didn't say goodbye.
I didn't say thank you.
And as I tried to
lay down that night,
it was as though my mother came
in my cell and stayed in my ear
all night telling me that
she didn't bring me up
to be a quitter.
I could hear my
mother telling me,
I've always taught you to fight.
My mother had been my biggest
cheerleader all my life.
When I did good, she was
there to cheer me on,
and when I did bad,
she was there to say,
you'll get them next time.
And early that morning, I called
Mr. Stevenson to apologize,
and I told him that I wanted
him to give the state of Alabama
as much hell as
he possibly could.
We went before 14
judges in Alabama,
and they all refused
to do the right thing.
And finally, Mr.
Stevenson said, I
need to take your case to the
United States Supreme Court.
He said, but I
need to inform you
that if the United States
Supreme Court ruled
against you, in two years,
the state of Alabama
will execute you.
I looked at Mr.
Stevenson, and I said,
take my case to the United
States Supreme Court.
Two years after filing my case
to the United States Supreme
Court, they did something
that they have never done
in the history of the courts.
All nine judges
ruled in my favor.
They sent the case
back to Alabama.
We go before a trial judge.
The prosecution stand
up, and say, Your Honor,
it is with deep
sadness that we have
to inform this court that we
have lost the gun in question.
The judge give them time
to relocate the gun.
She set a court date.
We go back.
They comes in, and they
said, Your Honor, it
is with great pleasure that we
inform the court that we found
the gun, but it is
with sadness that we
have to inform the
court again now
we have lost the bullets
that goes to the gun.
And all this time,
I'm sitting in jail
thinking that the prosecutor
had lost the bullets,
but he had his own expert
re-examine the bullets.
The man that said that the
bullets matched 30 years ago
was called back to
ask to re-examine.
Only this time, he
examined the bullets,
and he informed the prosecutor
that the bullets do not
match the way they
matched 30 years ago.
But the bullets matched
exactly the same
that they did 30 years ago.
Bullets are like fingerprints.
They don't change.
My life was not worth
them telling the truth.
30 years ago, I didn't have
the lawyer that I had in 2005.
Now the state of Alabama
cannot no longer tell a lie.
Not only did I have
a better lawyer,
but I had three of the
world-renowned experts who was
waiting to debate this thing.
The expert even challenged
the state expert.
Come and show us how
you got this match.
The expert in Alabama refused.
30 years of pure hell all
because the color of my skin.
The state of Alabama
had every intention
to execute an innocent
man, and had it not
been for Bryan Stevenson,
I wouldn't be here today.
Had it not been
for those experts
that was willing
to tell the truth,
I wouldn't be here today.
The state of Alabama was seeking
justice and the highest justice
that they could.
And that would be to execute me.
Tomorrow will be three
years that I've been free.
And to this day, not a one
have had the decency to say,
Mr. Hinton, we're sorry.
Have they not apologized because
I was born a person of color?
Everyday, in my mind,
I tried to find out
why nobody have had the
decency to say I'm sorry.
The state of Alabama
was seeking justice,
and I've come to Seattle to
ask you one profound question.
Where's my justice?
Where do I get justice from?
Better yet, who do
I get justice from?
All of you perhaps think that
the justice system is blind.
That is exactly what
they want you to believe,
that the justice
system is blind.
Every now and then,
they will show
you this lady with a
mask over her face,
and you see this blindfold.
But she knows exactly
what race you are.
She knows exactly
what gender you are.
She knows exactly what
college you went to.
She knows exactly what
neighborhood you live in.
She knows exactly something
that perhaps all of us
don't want her to know.
She knows exactly how much
money you have in the bank,
and she put all of
those things together.
And when you find yourself
in her court room,
it will have already
been determined
whether you're going to be
found guilty or not guilty.
We have two sets of
justice in this world.
For those of you who have
been fortunate enough
to have money, inherit
money, or however you got it,
you have the ability
to buy justice.
For those of us who play
fair and don't have anything,
we are the ones that is filling
up the prison because we cannot
afford a decent defense.
There is over two
million men and women
incarcerated in this country.
That is more people than in
some third world country,
and some of them
are there simply
because of the
color of their skin,
and there is those
that are there
because they didn't have the
money to hire decent defense.
I ask you, where's my justice?
I ask you, what would you
do if they came for you?
What would you do if you
were charged with a crime you
know you didn't commit?
What would you do if you
didn't have the money
to pay for a defense?
What would you do if you
took a polygraph test
and passed, but yet
no one believed you?
What would you do if the
judicial system looked at you
more for the color of your skin
than the merits of your case?
What would you do if you
was sentenced to death?
What would you do if you had
to spend the rest of your life
in a cell the size
of your bathroom?
What would you do if you've been
waiting all your life to die
for a crime you didn't commit?
How would you survive?
What would you do after 30
years they finally set you free?
Now who would you be?
What would you do?
That book is the second greatest
book that's ever been written.
I know because I know
the author of that book.
I know that that book will
touch you in some way.
That book put the
legal system on trial.
That book put you
on trial if you
is one that believe
in the death penalty.
That book will ask
you look at this name
and see can you
tell who is innocent
and who is guilty, because my
name was once on that list.
And as you read his
book, I want you
to put your name on that list.
And after every ten
name, say innocent.
Every day in this country, the
government kills in your name.
It don't matter that
you live in Seattle.
You are still responsible for
the government in Alabama.
No matter how you go
home and wash your hand
and put on this
good smelling soap
or whatever, that innocent
blood is still on your hands,
because we as
citizens, we sit by.
And we say nothing.
We do nothing.
We allow the government
to do as they please,
and they would have you
to believe that they
are doing the right thing.
I was the 152nd exoneree
that had got off death row.
How many men and
women need to be
exonerated before we
as a country decide
that enough is enough?
We don't need no death penalty.
Because once we execute
someone that is innocent,
and once we find out that
they truly was innocent,
there is no coming back.
I am a true believer that
what affect me today could
very well affect you tomorrow.
Ask yourself.
I could have been your
father, your brother.
I could have been
your best friend.
Ask yourself how would you feel
if the system that you know
would take your father,
someone you love,
someone you care about, and
put them in a hole for 30 years
and have every intention
of executing them simply
because they didn't
have the money,
simply because they was born
of a different skin tone.
Ask yourself how would you feel,
because I've had people come up
to me and say, Mr.
Hinton, I'm truly
sorry for what happened to you.
But isn't that the price we
pay for having law and order?
And I looks at those
people that tells me
that, you have a
right to your opinion,
but I would like to ask
you to be honest with me.
Would you feel that way if
I had been your brother,
if I had been your father, if
I had been your grandfather,
if I had been someone that
you truly love and care about?
Would you feel that is
the price that we pay?
The system is badly broken.
I'm at an age where it
won't affect me much longer,
but I worry about
you young people.
You must ask yourself
what type of legal system
you want to inherit, and
better yet, what type of system
you want your
children to inherit,
if you're satisfied to
let it stay the way it is.
If you're not satisfied,
I often tell people,
I don't believe in
marching in the streets.
I believe in marching
to the ballot box.
And I believe in voting.
And I believe in voting the
way that we need to vote.
I do not vote on racial lines.
And I do not vote on gender.
I do my homework.
I ask the tough question.
And if a politician
would have you
to believe that you are more
safe by having a death penalty,
that politician is lying to you.
Statistics shows that states
that don't a death penalty,
the murder rate is
far less than states
that have a death penalty.
I hope that once
you read his book,
you will change your heart.
It will teach you
about forgiveness.
In this book, if you read
nothing else, read about a man
that I became friends with that
was a KKK member, a man that
had went out in the street
and hung a young black man
in the middle of the streets.
And everybody was looking at
this man because he had three
Ks in front of his name, and
I erased those three K's.
All of this man's
life, from the day
he was in his mother's
womb, his mother, his daddy,
taught him to hate.
His community
taught him to hate.
And I asked a profound
question, where
was Child Protective Services
when this young boy was
being taught to hate?
Where was this village
that we often say--
it take a village
to raise a child--
where was this village
when this young man
was being taught to hate?
I didn't hear from
the village until it
was time for him to be tried
and convicted in this village
sentence him to death.
And when he came to death row,
just as he was taught to hate,
I, along with other blacks,
taught him how to love.
And on the night
of his execution,
they ask you two things.
What would you like
for your final meal,
and do you have anything
you would like say?
I am proud to stand here and say
that my friend, Henry Francis
Hays, left this world
saying, that all
of my life, my mother
and father, my community,
taught me to hate.
But the very people
they taught me to hate
are the people that
taught me how to love.
And Henry Hays final
words was, "in this night,
I leave this world now knowing
what true love feels like."
Just as someone
teaches you something,
someone can teach
you another thing.
Today, I hope that I
have said something
that will make you go home and
think about a corrupt system
that at some point
and some time you
will come face to face with.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen,
for listening to my story.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
Thank you.
AUDIENCE: Thank you for
coming in and telling
your story today.
And I wondered now that
you've gone through this,
and now that you understand how
the legal system has failed you
here, do you have
thoughts or advice
about how we can prevent the
legal system from continuing
to do this and to shine more
transparency on the cases like,
for instance, when
you said repeatedly
that the state would
not look at your case,
spend an hour
looking at your case?
And is there something that
could bring transparency
to that type of
failure for justice?
ANTHONY RAY HINTON:
Well, let me first
say that as long as we have a
death penalty in this country,
whether it's through human
error or through pure racism
or whatever, we're
going to continue
to execute innocent people.
The only way we will never
execute innocent people
is that we don't have a death
penalty in the first place.
But during my years
on death row when
we went to the attorney
general and asked
for him to reexamine
the evidence,
there is no law that governs
them to reexamine the evidence.
I think we need to have a
law placed in every state
that when there is a
question of evidence,
they should be made to go
back and recheck the evidence.
And if you still disagree,
someone, as an independent,
should come in and
settle this dispute.
There's no reason your
tax dollars should
have been wasted on
me for 30 years when
we could have resolved this.
But as long as the United
States Supreme Court
have given something that--
perhaps none of you know.
The United States Supreme
Court have given prosecutors
a blank check.
They can't be sued.
They can get up there and lie.
They can get up there
and fabricate evidence.
And you can prove
that they did it,
but you then can't turn
around and sue them.
But here's the kicker.
If you get up and
lie for anyone,
and they prove
later that you lied,
the prosecution can
charge you with perjury.
I just believe that
all of us should
be up under the same
rules and regulation.
If you can be
charged with perjury,
why shouldn't the prosecutor
be charged with the same thing?
We need to study and
make our laws better
and equal for everybody.
And I just think that these
types of problems won't occur.
But as long as we have
the system the way
it is, and we've
been led to believe
that the state have the right--
they are the ones who have to
prove whether you did something
or don't-- you're the one
that have to prove that you
didn't do it.
And if you don't have
the money to prove it,
chances are you won't prove it.
And I just think we need
better laws put on the book
to force the prosecutor to
re-examine the evidence.
We need to outlaw the fact
that they can't be sued.
Because what prosecutors won't
go out there and just tell
lies to get a conviction?
His motive is to get as
many convictions he can,
and then he wants to
be up for judgeship.
And he want to be able
say, I sent more men
to Alabama death row.
I sent more men and women to
prison than any other judge.
But what he don't tell you,
most of them was fabricated.
Most of them was lies
and [INAUDIBLE] lies.
And I just think that it is
unfair that you can be charged
for lying, and he can't.
That's a double standard,
and I'm against that.
SPEAKER: Thank you very much
for coming to talk to us.
ANTHONY RAY HINTON: Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
