United States ยท Alabama, Jefferson County
Anthony Ray Hinton: wrongly convicted, exonerated
Convicted of Two counts of capital murder in the 1985 shootings of two fast food restaurant managers.
SentenceDeath
Years in prison30
Exonerated3 April 2015
How the conviction was overturnedCourt dismissed the charges after prosecutors said state experts could not match the crime bullets to his gun, following a US Supreme Court ruling that his trial lawyer performed deficiently, Jefferson County Circuit Court, Alabama, after Hinton v. Alabama, 571 U.S. 263 (2014)1,2,3
What went wrong
- Unreliable firearms evidence linking crime bullets to his gun
- Inadequate legal defense, including a defence expert the lawyer knew was inadequate
- Mistaken witness identification from a photo lineup
From conviction to exoneration
- Arrested and charged with two capital murders in the Birmingham area.1
- The US Supreme Court unanimously held in Hinton v. Alabama that his trial counsel performed deficiently and remanded the case.2
- Released after the judge dismissed the charges when prosecutors reported that state scientists could not match the bullets to his gun.1,3
Today
Exonerated and free since April 2015.
Sources
- Equal Justice Initiative, Anthony Ray Hinton
- Supreme Court of the United States (via Justia), Hinton v. Alabama, 571 U.S. 263 (2014) (24 February 2014)
- Death Penalty Information Center, Innocence: Anthony Ray Hinton Exonerated After 30 Years on Alabama's Death Row (3 April 2015)