Man on death row for 30 years released

After almost 30 years on death row, Anthony Ray Hinton is a free man once again. In 1985, Hinton was convicted for the murders of two fast food workers in two separate robberies. Even though time cards put Hinton at his job at a local warehouse, he was still convicted. The only evidence that the prosecution had were bullets that state experts said matched the type in Hinton’s .38 revolver. Other than this evidence, there were no fingerprints or eyewitnesses that put Hinton anywhere near the scene of the crime. After many appeals to the court for Hinton’s conviction, they finally granted a retrial.
Anthony Ray Hinton is the 152nd person to be exonerated from death row. However, it took almost 30 years for the court and the prosecution to decide to let him have his retrial. In 2002, new information and evidence of Hinton’s innocence was provided. The court refused to look at the new evidence. Finally, after 12 more years of his attorney pushing for a retrial, Hinton was released.
After being in prison for such a long time, Hinton will have to face many new challenges. His first few days were spent “trying to get his bearings.” He has a new identification card and will look for a job in the coming weeks. While on death row, prisoners have no access to internet and sometimes not even working cable. Hinton says that he is excited to try to learn how to use the internet. He was also given his first phone, an iPhone given to him by his lawyers last Friday. His lawyers said he was “mystified by that.”
While it is an amazing thing that Anthony Ray Hinton was released, we cannot forget the fact that an innocent man was imprisoned for 30 years. During his time in prison, Hinton missed a lot of things. His mother died while he was on death row, he was away from his sisters, he has never even had the opportunity to send an email. This trial and sentence is the product of racism and injustice. During the original trial, the prosecutor said he could tell that Hinton was guilty and evil based solely on his appearance.
In an interview with Anthony Ray Hinton, he blamed racism for his arrest. He claimed, “Everybody that played a part in sending me to death row, you will answer to God. That’s all I have to say.” Hinton says he is amazed with how different the world has changed since he was put into jail in 1985. He is very excited to try to acclimate to new times and use all the technology he wasn’t able to use while in prison.