The Darryl Hunt Project for Freedom and Justice

The exonerated over the past year are breathtaking. If only people truly cared about imprisoning people who actually committed crimes vs getting a conviction.

It’s a long worm that doesn’t turn.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-rules-black-death-row-inmate-over-prosecutor-s-n1019666?cid=sm_npd_nn_fb_blk&fbclid=IwAR3VyRBNuZ_oOB3RuC7fbdg6QdAD_mj80jwSadqV8dCydAG0K-NaJPZcTAQ

Supreme Court rules for black death row inmate over prosecutor's racial bias The court sent the case back to Mississippi for further proceedings.

Cash bail systems result in individuals without resources spending time in jail without even being convicted. New polling shows - when people understand the problems with these practices, they support reforms!

Page not found – Pretrial Justice Institute Get facts and resources from Pretrial Justice Institute (PJI) to improve outcomes with better bail and pretrial solutions. Adopt smarter methods, learn about risk assessment and fairer, less costly pretrial options that honor and protect all people.

Darryl Hunt used to talk about finding the funding to get a bus full of exonorees to travel around the country. He'd call them "The Darryl Hunt Freedom Fighters," and they would work hard to support policy changes that help protect exonorees from instances such as befell Henry McCollum and Leon Brown.

Thank you to the people who are trying to hold these individuals accountable.

A Lawyer Who Helped an Exoneree Blow Through $750,000 Is Under Investigation The North Carolina State Bar probes Patrick Megaro.

Exciting introduction episode to one of the cases Wake Forest University School of Law Innocence and Justice Clinic is currently working on.

State v. Pamela Lanier – Episode 1 – Doctrine of Chances April 23, 2018 / The team investigates the case of Pam Lanier, who was convicted of murdering her husband Dorian largely due to an odd rule of evidence known as the Doctrine of Chances. Episode sc...

Darryl Hunt always said the key to breaking the cycle of incarceration was education.

NC DPS: Juvenile Education Services Initiates Programs Focused on Reentry in April As Reentry Week comes to a close, we must pay tribute to the important work being accomplished toward helping juvenile justice-involved children return to their communities following assignment to out-of-home residential placements in Juvenile Justice facilities. Two exciting initiatives related to....

The Ball Doesn’t Stop at Raise The Age In NC – Emmanuel Wilder – Medium 2017 in North Carolina finally saw Raise The Age pass after almost a decade of trial and error. Legislators finally were able to piece…

The Last Days of Darryl Hunt

Rest In Peace, Rest in Power dear friend.

lastdays.atavist.com Darryl Hunt spent 19 years in prison for a murder and r**e he did not commit before DNA evidence proved his innocence in 2004. Last year, he was found slumped at the wheel of a pickup truck, dead at 51 from a gunshot wound to the abdomen. What happened?

Kalvin Michael Smith in critical condition after being shot in Winston-Salem

Prayers for Kalvin.

journalnow.com A man released from prison in November after more than 20 years behind bars — for a brutal assault which his supporters say he did not commit — was shot

Winston-Salem Journal | JournalNow

A very heartfelt thanks to the Trustees and Staff of Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation for this fitting and wonderful way to honor Darryl Hunt's legacy.

Money will go to people seeking higher education after having been convicted of a crime.

Kalvin Michael Smith ordered freed after 20 years in prison; supporters will still push for exoneration

After 20 years of fighting to prove his , Kalvin Michael Smith will finally be released.

Huge congratulations and gratitude to Duke Law Innocence Project, Free Kalvin Michael Smith Now and the many, many advocates who have fought for justice for Kalvin for so many years.

The fight continues as supporters for Kalvin push for his full exoneration, but after decades of wrongful incarceration, we are so grateful that Kalvin is a free man today!! Darryl Hunt Mark Rabil Jim Coleman William J. Barber, II NC Cure North Carolina NAACP Stephen Boyd

journalnow.com For years, Gus Dark prayed for the day his son, Kalvin Michael Smith, would be a free man and he could welcome him into his home.

After prison, the exonerated face a different kind of hell

Powerful article in Mother Jones depicts difficult road facing exonorees after release. "We open the door and let them our and mostly turn our backs on them."

Far too many exonorees fall through the crack after exoneration with so little support available to address their unique needs. We must do better.

motherjones.com "We open the door and let them out and mostly turn our backs on them."

City to pay LaMonte Armstrong $6.42 million for wrongful conviction

Thanks to the Duke Law Innocence Project projects for fighting for justice for LaMonte for so many years!

"“I’m delighted that Mr. Armstrong is going to receive some money in recognition of the many years that were taken from him, but I also mourn his loss of those years and regret our utter inability to make that up to him,” said Theresa Newman, a co-director of the clinic, which investigates questionable prosecutions and works to set things right.

greensboro.com The City Council agreed to settle the lawsuit that stemmed from the former Greensboro resident's wrongful imprisonment for a 1988 murder.

faith-in-public-life | GA Clergy Mark 5th Anniversary of Troy D

Darryl Hunt fought tirelessly against the ex*****on of Troy Davis, who was widely believed to be innocent.

Five years after Davis' ex*****on, GA clergy call for GA end their state's use of capital punishment.

"Davis was executed on September 21, 2011 for the murder of Marc MacPhail, an off-duty police officer, in 1989. He was granted three stays of ex*****on prior to his final bid for clemency, which the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles denied the day before his final scheduled ex*****on date despite claims of innocence."

faithinpubliclife.org GA Clergy Mark 5th Anniversary of Troy D

Exonerate Kalvin Michael Smith Now

Please take a moment to read this column from the Winston-Salem Journal News. John Railey recently had a very open and meaningful conversation with Kalvin Michael Smith.

"He spends his waking and sleeping hours dreaming of freedom. '7,142 days I’ve been in here,' he told me. 'I keep up with it every day. That’s a long time to be in prison for a crime you didn’t commit.'"

Despite the latest judicial decisions, we will not give up on the truth and justice for KMS, nor will his legal team. Stay tuned for further developments.

NC prosecutors: Proposed rule involving evidence unnecessary :: WRAL.com

Thank you Chris Mumma NC Center on Actual Innocence for continuing to fight against wrongful convictions in North Carolina. .

wral.com North Carolina's district attorneys say a proposed rule that would require them to turn over evidence of innocence after a person is convicted is unnecessary because prosecutors already believe it should be turned over at any point, including post-conviction.

Cumberland judge steps aside from Racial Justice Act cases

The NC Racial Justice Act was inspired by Darryl Hunt's wrongful conviction. For years, Darryl Hunt fought for the passage of RJA and fought against its repeal. Darryl Hunt attended every single day of both RJA hearings in Cumberland County and sat proudly in the front of the courtroom as Judge Weeks announced his findings under the act.

The courtroom felt hollow yesterday without Darryl Hunt sitting there proudly as an enduring symbol of the ways in which racial bias infects our system. But at the end of the day, Judge Ammons decided to appoint another judge to hear these cases and RJA will live to see another day in court.

Thank you Darryl Hunt for your legacy in North Carolina. We would not be here if it had not been for your tireless advocacy.

newsobserver.com The chief resident Superior Court judge in Cumberland County agreed on Thursday to let another judge preside over hearing on four Racial Justice Act cases.

NC Center on Actual Innocence

Read the Charlotte Observer's six-part series on NC Center on Actual Innocence client Mark Carver's conviction beginning this Sunday.

Winston-Salem Journal | JournalNow

Reports released today conclude that Darryl Hunt died from a single gunshot wound to his torso.

Dr. Darryl Hunt was wrongfully imprisoned as a young man and spent two decades in prison for a horrific crime he did not commit.

Immediately upon release, he committed himself to being "a voice for the voiceless." His genuine commitment to supporting criminal justice reforms in the state and country inspired individuals the world over.

The world has lost an irreplaceable advocate for justice. He fought so hard for so many, without ever considering himself for a moment. Rest in peace, rest in power dear friend.

An autopsy showed that Hunt had a single gunshot wound to his torso.

Hunt carried burden of trying to help others not

"Although his body was free from a prison cell for more than 12 years, close friends said Sunday that Hunt never seemed to feel free in his mind and with his emotions.

“Nineteen years of wrongful incarceration is what killed Darryl Hunt,” Hunt's attorney Mark Rabil said.

“It is amazing he survived as long as he did given all the injuries inflicted on him. At some point, like a solider that kept charging the enemy after being shot several times, he finally fell.”

journalnow.com The burden of being Darryl Hunt was never light.

Police: Darryl Hunt’s body found inside vehicle

Rest in peace dear friend. Darryl Hunt

myfox8.com WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Police said the body of Darryl Eugene Hunt, who served nearly 20 years in prison before DNA results exonerated him, was found in Winston-Salem Sunday morning. Hunt’s body was …

Winston-Salem police search for missing man

Rest in peace dear friend.

m.wxii12.com Winston-Salem police are searching for Darryl Eugene Hunt, who was reported missing Saturday.

Darryl Hunt reported missing, Winston-Salem police confirm

m.journalnow.com Darryl Hunt was reported missing on Saturday, according to Winston-Salem police.

Saunders: In a case filled with egregious injustices, only the minor misdeed is prosecuted

District Attorney: State's legal apparatus is designed to prove guilt, not innocence.

From Saunders: Who, I asked Sledge during a break in the daylong hearing, would he prefer seeing on trial rather than the woman who helped free him?
“The state,” he said quickly. “The state needs to be on trial.”

newsobserver.com It would be easy to believe, listening to assistant Columbus County District Attorney Lee Bollinger testify at the N.C. State Bar building Wednesday, that when the state was told in 2013 that Joseph Sledge didn’t kill two women in Bladen County in 1976 and r**e one of them, the state said oops and i…

Freed death row inmate: $750,000 compensation 'can't compare' to 31 years in prison

Poignant account of the tremendous impact of 30+ years wrongfully sentenced to die on two brothers.

fayobserver.com Henry McCollum and Leon Brown served more than three decades behind bars for the 1983 murder of an 11-year-old Red Springs girl that DNA has proven they didn't commit.

Death Penalty News: Alabama: Montez Spradley, an Innocent Man Once on Death Row, Is Free

"Montez was not the 1st innocent man to arrive to death row after a judge had overridden the jury's life vote, and until the practice is shut down, he will not be the last. Residual doubt about a defendant's guilt is often a major reason why a jury would vote for life. The fact that innocent people continue to be sentenced to death, especially when a jury would have spared their lives, is the very definition of a failed system.

…

Others have not fared as well. Innocent people, and people whose juries wanted them to live, remain on death row. For Montez and for them, it is time to reject the failed system of capital punishment."

deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com

N.C. legislators working to restart capital punishment

All of these questions have caused death penalty opponents to warn that the new law may cause significant problems in the future. Representative Graig Meyer, a death penalty opponent, argued that the law is only likely to lead to further litigation and cast a shadow on the General Assembly.

“There is great risk that this bill will result in improper administration of the ex*****on protocol, putting the State into protracted litigation over cruel and unusual punishment,” he said. “There’s no reason for us to even risk that.”

dukechronicle.com After a nine-year moratorium on death penalties, the Restoring Proper Justice amends North Carolina procedure for capital punishment with the goal of restarting ex*****on.

Gene Smith: Justice isn't always a conviction

"Would you, for $25,000 a year, sign away almost all of your rights for the next three decades? A short list: the right to be free to choose your place of residence and your associates and set your own agenda; the right to take a stroll in a park or attend the church of your choice; the right to seek a job, launch a business or pursue a career; the right to marry and rear a family and attend PTA meetings and graduations; the right to move from one room to another without asking permission; the right not to be r**ed or otherwise physically and psychologically abused.

Add one more - the right not to be killed by the same system that stole your freedom. Each man lived, for a time, with a death sentence hanging over him. One of the brothers was never out from under that cloud during the whole ordeal."

fayobserver.com If you're feeling better now that half-brothers Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, who spent 30 years in prison for a crime they didn't commit, have been compensated to the tune of $750,000 each, try the following exercise.

Justice, finally, for falsely accused McCollum and Brown

"McCollum and Brown will have better lives now thanks to some measure of financial security, but they were failed by the justice system, which ought to use every instance such as this to examine thoroughly what went wrong and how mistakes can be avoided."

newsobserver.com After more than 30 year in prison for a crime they didn’t commit, half-brothers Henry McCollum and Leon Brown endured another long wait for compensation from the state.

Juror discrimination pushes the death penalty conversation | NC Policy Watch

"It’s been more than two years since the General Assembly repealed the Racial Justice Act, eliminating the right of death row inmates here to assert statutory claims of racial discrimination in juror selection.

The cases of the few inmates who managed during the Act’s short life to establish such discrimination and have their sentences reduced to life without parole still live, though, awaiting decision by the state Supreme Court following arguments in their cases in April 2014.

But the U.S. Supreme Court is now stepping into the fray, agreeing in late May to review a case out of Georgia this term that addresses the constitutional underpinnings such claims."

ncpolicywatch.com Juror discrimination pushes the death penalty conversation Posted on 8/20/2015 by Sharon McCloskey Print This Article It’s been more than two years since the General Assembly repealed the Racial Justice Act, eliminating the right of death row inmates here to assert statutory claims of racial discri…

On death penalty drugs, what does NC have to hide?

"North Carolina has taken measures to gut the transparency of its ex*****on process. Gov. Pat McCrory has signed into law HB 774, which classifies information on the manufacturers of lethal drugs and removes a requirement that the public be allowed to review and comment on proposed ex*****on protocols. This makes it impossible for citizens, experts and the media to obtain basic information about the state’s process of executing prisoners. By cutting off public access to this information, North Carolina has shrouded in secrecy the implementation of the most serious punishment a state can impose."

newsobserver.com Mark White and Gerald Kogan: Gov. Pat McCrory has signed into law HB 774, which classifies information on the manufacturers of lethal drugs and removes a requirement that the public be allowed to review and comment on proposed ex*****on protocols. This makes it impossible for citizens, experts and t…

The conservative conscience of Beverly Lake and the NC death penalty

"In the 11 months since the exonerations of Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, lawmakers have not proposed a single law that would help determine whether there are more innocent people on North Carolina’s death row."

newsobserver.com Gretchen Engel: In the 11 months since the exonerations of Henry McCollum and Leon Brown,NC lawmakers have not proposed a single law that would help determine whether there are more innocent people on North Carolina’s death row.

Groups Urge Gov. McCrory to Veto Bill that Would Make Executions More Secretive

“Less than a year after other states have botched ex*****ons as a result of using experimental drugs obtained in secret, it would be foolhardy for North Carolina to go down the same road,” said Sarah Preston, acting executive director of the ACLU of North Carolina. “This bill would increase the likelihood of a botched ex*****on in North Carolina, hide basic information about ex*****ons from public access, and needlessly waste taxpayer dollars on the inevitable lawsuits that will follow. Governor McCrory should take a stand for transparency and accountability and veto this bill without delay.”

acluofnorthcarolina.org RALEIGH – A coalition of human rights groups is urging Gov. Pat McCrory to veto a bill that would hide the source of lethal injection drugs used to execute prisoners on death row and remove the requirement that a qualified physician be present at all ex*****ons. The groups, including the American Ci…

Patterson McCoy: Murder victim families against ex*****on

"We oppose the North Carolina bill, and all efforts to make capital punishment seem more benign and acceptable – because it isn’t.

There are human consequences, and no group knows that better than victim family members. Daughtry’s bill wants to keep ex*****ons secret. We want to be very open about our position. We are the ones who’ve been harmed. When it comes to the death penalty, we say, “No. Not in our names.”

newsobserver.com Elected officials, the media and even the general public think they know how family members of murder victims feel about the death penalty. Many assume that our community – Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation – would passionately support efforts to restart the death penalty in North Carolina…

NC Senate to take up ex*****on protocol changes

Tonight, NC Senate will consider bill to remove all transparency from our state's ex*****on process.

"David Weiss, a staff attorney for the Durham-based Center for Death Penalty Litigation, argued during the public comment period for more openness for what he described as “one of the most important, one of the most serious functions that our state government undertakes.”

“The process should be done openly, transparently so the people of North Carolina have input,” Weiss said. “This really removes transparency from the ex*****on process.”

newsobserver.com As botched ex*****ons across the country have turned the public focus toward methods used to kill death-row inmates, the state Senate is poised to take up a bill that would hide the supplier, manufacturer and dosage of lethal drugs used for capital punishment in North Carolina.

Railey: Some prosecutors play costly game: ‘Bargaining with death’

"Like too many citizens in this state, [Mead] was drafted into a game some law-enforcement officers and prosecutors play, that of going for the ultimate punishment, often using the death penalty as a bargaining chip, on the flimsiest of evidence.
This game’s human and financial costs are high, as a new and landmark study from the nonprofit Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham makes clear. And those costs could rise."

journalnow.com Some members of the Mecklenburg County jury that in 2011 acquitted Mike Mead of capital murder in the death of his girlfriend, saving him from a potential death penalty, bought him drinks afterward as they laughed about the huge holes in the state’s case.

The case of Kalvin Michael Smith

“'Eventually the truth is going to come to light,' he said. 'They think it’s going away. It’s not going away.'”

yesweekly.com The case of Kalvin Michael Smith Courtroom 501A of the Forsyth County Justice Center fell eerily silent on the morning of Jan. 8. Danielle Marquis Elder of the NC State Attorney General’s Office and David Pishko, the attorney representing K,Fro

Put the death penalty on trial

"Justice Stephen Breyer, in a long, impassioned dissent, raised the question growing numbers of Americans are asking: Given the mounting evidence of its many flaws, is it time for America to abandon the death penalty?"

charlotteobserver.com Justice Breyer offers a searing dissent in capital punishment case