Anthony Hinton: 'I sat on death row for 28 years' | UpFront — Transcript

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1. 0:04innocent until proven guilty it's a
2. 0:07fundamental tenet of the U.S judicial
3. 0:08system and it's the backbone of the
4. 0:10criminal process however at least five
5. 0:13percent of the carceral population is
6. 0:15wrongfully convicted that means that
7. 0:16about one in every 20 judgments puts an
8. 0:19innocent person behind bars more often
9. 0:22than not it's a person of color there is
10. 0:24now some recourse within the system but
11. 0:27exonerations are lengthy complicated and
12. 0:29legal resources are not easily
13. 0:31accessible so what does this say about
14. 0:33the U.S Criminal Justice System joining
15. 0:35us to discuss is Advocate and author
16. 0:37Anthony Hinton Anthony was released in
17. 0:392015 after spending 28 years on death
18. 0:42row falsely convicted for robbery and
19. 0:44double murder in 1985. he's now
20. 0:47Community educator at the Equal justice
21. 0:49initiative Anthony thank you so much for
22. 0:50joining us on up front uh you were
23. 0:52wrongly convicted for two Capital
24. 0:54murders in Birmingham Alabama almost
25. 0:58four decades ago police falsely
26. 1:00identified you they then searched your
27. 1:01mother's house they found your mother's
28. 1:03revolver and linked you to the killings
29. 1:05without any other physical evidence as a
30. 1:09result you spent nearly 30 years in
31. 1:10prison talk to me about the specific
32. 1:13factors that you would say influenced
33. 1:15your arrest and your conviction
34. 1:18well let me first say thank you for
35. 1:20having me but uh the police officer did
36. 1:25not find a gun in my mother house I am
37. 1:28the one who told them that my mother
38. 1:31only Smith and Western handgun and I
39. 1:36told him because I knew that I hadn't
40. 1:38committed a crime and I was brought up
41. 1:41to always tell the truth and that day I
42. 1:45told the truth and little did I know
43. 1:47that they would get the gun tell a lie
44. 1:50like the gun match and it would cost me
45. 1:52almost my life and this system is a
46. 1:56system that treats you better if you're
47. 1:57rich and guilty opposed to if you're
48. 2:00poor and innocent I didn't have the
49. 2:02money to hide decent defense and
50. 2:05therefore this system if you don't have
51. 2:08the money
52. 2:09can I easily convict you but it can
53. 2:12convict you more easily if you're born
54. 2:15black and poor and when you have to rely
55. 2:18on a state upon an attorney which I had
56. 2:22to rely on and so a conviction was very
57. 2:25easy for them to obtain and sentenced me
58. 2:28to death knowing that I was innocent
59. 2:30they didn't make an honest mistake they
60. 2:33did it on purpose this system is working
61. 2:36exactly the way it was designed to work
62. 2:39and it was designed to put means of
63. 2:41color
64. 2:42behind the prison wall
65. 2:45for many people they could wrap their
66. 2:47minds around a mistake
67. 2:50they could even wrap their minds around
68. 2:52police
69. 2:54um believing that you're guilty and
70. 2:55being a little overzealous and closing
71. 2:57the case because they know they got the
72. 2:58right guy
73. 2:59but in your case you're saying they just
74. 3:02made this stuff up they lied and it's
75. 3:04not just your case we hear about false
76. 3:06confessions uh we hear about government
77. 3:08misconduct uh planted evidence this kind
78. 3:12of stuff all the time
79. 3:14it's hard for many Americans though many
80. 3:16people around the world to wrap their
81. 3:18mind around the idea that these things
82. 3:19are happening willfully that these
83. 3:21aren't just hard-working police officers
84. 3:23who sometimes make a mistake
85. 3:25well well you know uh how to tell people
86. 3:28that are I come in accounting with this
87. 3:32system have been doing this from the
88. 3:341800 to the 1900s back in the 18 1900 a
89. 3:39white woman could say a black man uh
90. 3:42looked at her wrong he was charged with
91. 3:44a crime no evidence uh minimum was Lynch
92. 3:48no evidence and so we still have this
93. 3:51modern day lynching we just have it in a
94. 3:53different form we're starting to see uh
95. 3:55reports coming out as people look into
96. 3:58these exonerated cases and we find the
97. 4:00kind of flaws you're talking about now
98. 4:02on a positive note is that we're seeing
99. 4:05more and more exonerations uh in recent
100. 4:08years uh are we headed in the right
101. 4:10direction
102. 4:11we should never have to get to that
103. 4:13point uh being exonerated I've been
104. 4:16exonerated and having not been offered
105. 4:18or given one penny have not even been uh
106. 4:22offered an apology uh when I
107. 4:26try and file for compensation for 30
108. 4:29years of my life I'm told
109. 4:32that since I was not found guilty by
110. 4:35jewelry I am not eligible to receive
111. 4:38anything so
112. 4:40once this charges are dropped and it's
113. 4:43it's been realized effectively that you
114. 4:46spent 28 years in prison for something
115. 4:48you didn't do and that the case against
116. 4:50you was manufactured what does the state
117. 4:53say to you do they you said they didn't
118. 4:55apologize did they say anything they
119. 4:56haven't said anything I'm not going to
120. 4:58be honest with you and I'm gonna be
121. 5:00honest with you spirit I didn't hear him
122. 5:02say these words but I was told tell them
123. 5:05to be glad that we just didn't executed
124. 5:07and that's the end of that just be glad
125. 5:10we didn't execute him and him being the
126. 5:13n-word they used alleged allegedly that
127. 5:16that is a um
128. 5:18that's a that's an incredibly
129. 5:21uh I mean I don't even know what to say
130. 5:23it's overwhelming and that's the end of
131. 5:25the journey I want you to take me a step
132. 5:27back though but talk to me about the
133. 5:28fight to to get the conviction
134. 5:30overturned uh it took Brad Stevens and
135. 5:33the equal just from this to 16 years to
136. 5:37finally get a court the United States
137. 5:39Supreme Court to rule in my favor well
138. 5:42they granted me a new trial I goes back
139. 5:46to Birmingham
140. 5:47the state of Alabama comes in and say
141. 5:50Young
142. 5:51or it is with great sadness that we
143. 5:53inform you that we lost to God
144. 5:56and so why we thought they was looking
145. 5:59for the gun in the bullets which they
146. 6:01claimed they had lost or they had asked
147. 6:04one of the old experts to come in and
148. 6:07re-examine the bullets and the gun
149. 6:10the same man that said in Max 30 years
150. 6:13ago
151. 6:1430 years later says the gun do not match
152. 6:18the way it did
153. 6:20in the Forefront wow as you mentioned
154. 6:22you didn't receive any money you didn't
155. 6:25receive any reparations after your
156. 6:27conviction was overturned by the Supreme
157. 6:29Court despite uh the fact that an
158. 6:31Alabama State Senate a proposal uh was
159. 6:35supposed to give you 1.5 million dollars
160. 6:38uh compensation for wrongful conviction
161. 6:41is possible but it's not uniform it
162. 6:43varies from state to state uh not to
163. 6:46mention the process can be fraught with
164. 6:47complications as exonerees try to access
165. 6:50the the money that they're due how is it
166. 6:53that somebody can be falsely convicted
167. 6:55spend decades in prison and still has to
168. 6:58go through so many hurdles just to get
169. 7:00restitution
170. 7:02oh it's easy I'm gonna give you two
171. 7:05reasons live in the state of Alabama
172. 7:08and be black
173. 7:09that's all you need to deny you you know
174. 7:13I suffer from 30 years of being in
175. 7:15solitary confinement or
176. 7:18I would never look at you uh this camera
177. 7:21and say that I'm free I'll just release
178. 7:24I still go through all the uh feelings
179. 7:28and the emotion uh when there's another
180. 7:31execution I haven't been offered to see
181. 7:34a psychiatrist psychologist or they just
182. 7:37opened the door and say hey
183. 7:39oh
184. 7:40try to live the best life you can but
185. 7:43we're not going to help you one way or
186. 7:45another I sit on death row 28 years I
187. 7:48witnessed 54 men being executed I have
188. 7:52to remind myself that I was so close to
189. 7:55this I mean there's a there's a trauma
190. 7:58to what you're describing sir that it
191. 8:00would sound like you need therapy
192. 8:03you need some kind of response to
193. 8:06post-traumatic stress from being in that
194. 8:08kind of in the kind of that kind of
195. 8:09context for so long so so when I think
196. 8:12about that 1.5 million and I'm I'm
197. 8:15sticking there just for a second because
198. 8:17I want people to understand what you
199. 8:18need that for this isn't like you're
200. 8:20trying to make a Payday this ain't like
201. 8:21hitting the lottery you lost 30 years
202. 8:22what what is that money necessary for
203. 8:26it that money necessary for me to get
204. 8:29out and find a decent uh doctor that can
205. 8:33treat me and perhaps help me or it I
206. 8:37needed it for I don't have uh money tied
207. 8:40up in the Social Security I was didn't
208. 8:43put anything in the social security for
209. 8:4530 years or so therefore I have nothing
210. 8:47coming out or I needed uh to live on
211. 8:52because who gonna hire someone that been
212. 8:55on death row for 30 years have no
213. 8:58computer experience have nothing and
214. 9:00most people is afraid of you because
215. 9:03you've been locked up like a caged
216. 9:05animal this system is was designed as I
217. 9:09said to put man's of color and we would
218. 9:12have people to believe that we're
219. 9:13dealing with mass incarceration we're
220. 9:16not dealing with mass and conservation
221. 9:18we are dealing with a new form of
222. 9:20slavery there was a study by the
223. 9:22American Psychological Association this
224. 9:24year it found that 80 percent of
225. 9:25exonerated people experienced at least
226. 9:27one serious traumatic event while
227. 9:29incarcerated in more than half of that
228. 9:32group showed significant signs of PTSD
229. 9:35what should people know about the trauma
230. 9:39that's
231. 9:41experienced by people who are wrongly
232. 9:43convicted in prison
233. 9:45people should know that when we put
234. 9:48innocent millions and women are special
235. 9:51on death row
236. 9:53or that trauma is there forever because
237. 9:56we don't have the money to go out and
238. 9:59seek a qualified or psychiatrist or to
239. 10:03try to at least get us back on the right
240. 10:06Road
241. 10:07at some point it gonna hit you and
242. 10:10you're gonna uh just cry like a baby
243. 10:13you're gonna scream like or someone is
244. 10:16chasing you and so no one knows what I
245. 10:19go through every time there's an
246. 10:20execution in the state of Alabama uh
247. 10:23I know exactly what that inmate is going
248. 10:26through I know exactly what is taking
249. 10:28place because I was there for 30 years
250. 10:30or this is something you can't turn off
251. 10:33and turn on I deal with it as best as I
252. 10:36can and
253. 10:38I want more than anything if the state
254. 10:41of Alabama gave me a million and a half
255. 10:43dollar
256. 10:44it wouldn't come close to trying to make
257. 10:47me whole uh it's just a shame that we
258. 10:51have a death coming in this country and
259. 10:53men and women goes to death row and
260. 10:56state for decades and
261. 10:59a lot of States say hey
262. 11:02you're free to go and that's it
263. 11:04they owe you no reparation they owe you
264. 11:06nothing and they act as though they're
265. 11:08giving you something and they act as
266. 11:10though we doing your favor we didn't
267. 11:13execute you that you should be thankful
268. 11:16that you should go home and be quiet
269. 11:19and yes do I think that at any time they
270. 11:23can knock on the door and say I did
271. 11:25something else they did it one time find
272. 11:27out again and so all of that plays in my
273. 11:29mind are every night every day all of
274. 11:32this plays and you psychologically
275. 11:34because of what they did to you before
276. 11:37and so people see me they see a healthy
277. 11:40looking man but they don't see the scars
278. 11:43in the military or the fact that it's
279. 11:47inside of me I have to deal with that no
280. 11:49one else
281. 11:50Mr Hinton um thank you for your work and
282. 11:53I wish you luck I hope you get Justice
283. 11:55and I hope you get everything that you
284. 11:57deserve from state of Alabama thank you
285. 11:58so much for joining us on up front
286. 12:00thank you for having me
287. 12:02that is our show up front we'll be back
288. 12:05next week