4 years after death row exoneration, Anthony Ray Hinton is a voice for change
Photos by Daniel Roth, City of Birmingham
By Chanda Temple, City of Birmingham
When Anthony Ray Hinton walked out of an Alabama lockup after spending nearly 30 years on Death Row for a crime he did not commit, a guard told him: “You’ll be back.’’
But Hinton knew that comment, just like his conviction, was a lie.
“I said, ‘There was no way because I wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place. I told him just to watch and see,’ ‘’ Hinton recalled.
Four years after Hinton’s release on April 3, 2015, there’s been a lot he’s done for that guard to see.
Hinton has met President Obama and Queen Elizabeth. He attended Nelson Mandela’s 100th birthday. He also visited Oprah Winfrey, who’s looking at making a movie about his 2018 book, “The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row.” The book, which was on the New York Times best seller list in June 2018 and on Oprah’s Summer Book Club list, was nominated for a 2019 NAACP Image Award.
“I’m a true believer that God will never allow you to go through anything that He cannot bring you out of,’’ said Hinton, 62. “Since I’ve been out, I’ve had the pleasure of traveling all over the world, meeting different people. It just shows you what God can do if you put your faith and trust in Him.’’
And if that’s not enough, Hinton is a sought-after public speaker, delivering messages of faith, forgiveness and a flawed criminal justice system. Just this week, he flew from Birmingham to Philadelphia to talk to more than 1,500 people at a church only to get up the next morning to catch a plane and speak at Boston University today.
On April 16 at 7 p.m., he will speak at Samford University’s Wright Center to talk about his book and time behind bars. And in May, he will be the keynote speaker at the St. Bonaventure University graduation in St. Bonaventure, N.Y., where he will receive an honorary doctorate.
“I am just happy to be alive and well,’’ said Hinton, of Walker County. “I’m happy to be able to … try to bring changes to a broken system. And more than anything, I’m happy about hope. I want to give young men hope, the hope that has inspired me to do what I am doing.’’
Hinton was wrongly convicted for killing two people at two fast food Birmingham restaurants in 1985. There was no solid evidence that tied him to the crimes, but still he was arrested. When Hinton told the arresting detective that he had the wrong man, the detective told him that he didn’t care whether he did it or not. He was going to be convicted anyway. Hinton was 29 when was convicted and sentenced to die in the state’s electric chair. It was 1986.
During Hinton’s time on Death Row, 54 men and one woman were put to death in a chamber that was 33 feet away from his cell. He could smell burning flesh every time someone was electrocuted. But Hinton never wavered that the truth would prevail one day.
“In my mind, I never did see myself going (to the death chamber),’’ he said. “But what I never lost sight of was I was sentenced to death. And every day I woke up with a death sentence over my head and every night I laid down with a death sentence over my head. And I just had to believe that God would not allow me to die for something I didn’t do.’’
Instead of spending time worrying, he used his mind to escape. While sitting in his 5×7 cell, he saw himself marrying actress Halle Berry, playing for the New York Yankees and the New York Knicks and traveling. He even started a book club on Death Row.
“Solitary confinement is really designed to break you … to make you crazy,’’ he said. “But it didn’t for me.’’
Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative of Montgomery stepped in to take over Hinton’s appeals. And for 16 years, they fought for justice on behalf of Hinton. In 2015, the Supreme Court unanimously overturnedHinton’s conviction on appeal.
Since Hinton’s release, he said the state of Alabama has not apologized. But during a recent visit to City Hall in Birmingham, Mayor Randall Woodfin embraced Hinton and apologized for what Hinton experienced.
“I’m thinking of the guards you’ve had to interact with. I’m thinking of the detectives … the judges … I’m thinking about all of these people who were intentional and caused you grief or harm. I’m sorry this happened you,’’ said Woodfin. “I apologize to you.’’
“I feel like I’m a better leader after reading your book. I’m a better person,’’ said Woodfin.
During the meeting, Hinton told Woodfin that he forgives those who put him in prison.
“What I learned about forgiveness is that it’s not about the other person. It’s about me,’’ Hinton said. “I didn’t forgive those people who did this to me because they asked me to or because they called me or wrote me. I didn’t forgive them so that they could sleep good at night. I forgave them so I could sleep good at night.’’
And before he goes to bed at night, Hinton takes the time to do something he never could do while on Death Row and that’s to simply walk outside and look to the skies.
“What prison did to me was made me realize that I wasn’t really enjoying life the way that I am now,’’ he said. “I don’t take nothing for granted. I get up and I go outside at night and see the stars and the moon. For 30 years, I couldn’t see the stars and the moon.’’
