Rubin Carter
Encyclopedia
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (born May 6, 1937) fought professionally as a middleweight boxer from 1961 to 1966. In 1966, he was arrested for a triple homicide in the Lafayette Bar and Grill in Paterson, New Jersey
. He and another man, John Artis, were tried and convicted twice (1967 and 1976) for the murders, but after the second conviction was overturned in 1985, prosecutors chose not to try the case for a third time. From 1993 to 2005 Carter served as executive director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted
.
, the fourth of seven children. He acquired a record and was sentenced to a juvenile reformatory for assault
and robbery shortly after his 14th birthday. Carter escaped from the reformatory in 1954 and joined the Army
. A few months after completing infantry basic training
at Fort Jackson, South Carolina
, he was sent to West Germany
. In his first year, Carter compiled a 35-5 record and won the European Lightweight Championship. He began going to classes—including a Dale Carnegie
class, which helped him to conquer his stuttering problem. He even adopted Islam and changed his name for a while. Carter performed poorly as a soldier, and was court-martial
ed four times for charges ranging from being AWOL. In May 1956, he received an "Undesirable" discharge, having served 21 months of his three-year term of enlistment.
Carter was discharged from the Army on May 29, 1956, and was arrested less than a month later for his escape from Jamesburg Home for Boys. After his return to New Jersey, Carter was picked up by authorities and sentenced to an additional 9 months for escaping from the reformatory, he went to Annandale prison for five months. Shortly after being released, Carter committed a series of muggings, including assault and robbery of a middle-aged black woman. He pled guilty to the charges and was imprisoned in East Jersey State Prison in Avenel, New Jersey
, a maximum-security facility, where he would remain for the next four years. and spent time in the Rahway
and Trenton state prisons until his release in September 1961.
, but he fought all of his professional career at 155–160 lb (70–72.6 kg). His aggressive style and punching power (resulting in many early-round knockouts) drew attention, establishing him as a crowd favorite and earning him the nickname "Hurricane." After he had beaten a number of middleweight contenders such as Florentuno Fernandez, Holley Mims
, Gomeo Brennan, and George Benton, the boxing world took notice. The Ring
first listed him as one of its "Top 10" middleweight contenders in July 1963.
He fought six times in 1963, winning four bouts and losing two. He remained ranked in the lower part of the top 10 until December 20, when he surprised the boxing world by flooring past and future world champion Emile Griffith
twice in the first round and scoring a technical knockout.
That win resulted in Ring Magazine ranking Carter as the #3 contender for Joey Giardello
's world middleweight
title. Carter won two more fights (one a decision over future heavyweight
champion Jimmy Ellis
) in 1964, before meeting Giardello in Philadelphia for a 15-round championship match on December 14. Carter fought well in the early rounds, landing a few solid rights to the head, but failed to follow them up and Giardello took control of the fight in the fifth round. The judges awarded Giardello a unanimous decision. An informal poll conducted among ringside sportswriters agreed that Giardello had outboxed the challenger. Carter would later claim that he won at least nine rounds.
After that fight, Carter's standing as a contender — as reflected by his ranking in Ring Magazine — began to decline. He fought nine times in 1965, but lost three of four fights against top contenders (Luis Manuel Rodríguez
, British Nigerian
Dick Tiger
, and Harry Scott). Tiger, in particular, had no problem with Carter, flooring him three times in their match. "It was", Carter said, "the worst beating that I took in my life — inside or outside the ring." During his visit to London
(to fight Scott) Carter was involved in an incident in which a shot was fired in his hotel room.
Carter's career record in boxing was 27 wins, 12 losses and one draw in 40 fights, with 19 total knockouts (8 KOs and 11 TKOs).
He received an honorary championship title belt from the World Boxing Council
in 1993 (as did Joey Giardello
at the same banquet) and was later inducted into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame.
, and started shooting. The bartender, James Oliver, and a male customer, Fred Nauyoks, were killed instantly. A severely wounded female customer, Hazel Tanis, died almost a month later, having been shot in the throat, stomach, intestine
, spleen
and left lung
, and her arm being shattered by shotgun pellets
. A third customer, Willie Marins, survived the attack, despite a gunshot wound to the head that cost him the sight in one eye. Both Marins and Tanis told police that the shooters had been black males after being interrogated, although neither identified Carter or John Artis, both of whom were subsequently arrested, charged, tried, and convicted.
Petty criminal Alfred Bello, who had been near the Lafayette to commit a burglary of a factory that night, was an eyewitness. Bello later testified that he was approaching the Lafayette when two black males - one carrying a shotgun
, the other a pistol
- came around the corner walking towards him. He ran from them, and they got into a white car that was double-parked near the Lafayette. Bello was one of the first people on the scene of the shootings, as was Patricia Graham (later Patricia Valentine), a resident on the second floor (above the Lafayette Bar and Grill). Graham told the police that she saw two black males get into a white car and drive westbound. Another neighbor, Ronald Ruggiero, also heard the shots and said that when he looked from his window he saw Alfred Bello running west on Lafayette Street toward 16th Street. He then heard the screech of tires and saw a white car shoot past, heading west, with two black males in the front seat.Both Bello and Valentine provided a description of the car to the police, which changed at the second court case: Valentine claimed that the lights lit up like butterflies, which Carter's car did not have; only the two end lights lit up
on Carter and Artis. None of the eyewitnesses identified Carter or Artis as the shooters. Carter, in fact, was brought to the hospital the evening of the shooting at approximately 4a.m., and victim Willie Marins identified Carter as not one of the shooters.
On searching the car about 45 minutes later, Detective Emil DiRobbio found a live .32 caliber pistol round under the front passenger seat and a 12-gauge shotgun
shell in the trunk. Ballistics later established that the murder weapons had been a .32 caliber pistol and a twelve-gauge shotgun. The defense would later raise questions about this evidence, as it was not logged with a property clerk until five days after the murders.
Carter and Artis were taken to police headquarters and questioned. They were released later that day.
Several months later, Bello disclosed to the police that he had an accomplice during the attempted burglary, one Arthur Dexter Bradley. On further questioning, Bello and Bradley both identified Carter as one of the two males they had seen carrying weapons outside the bar the night of the murders; Bello also identified Artis as the other. Based on this additional evidence, Carter and Artis were arrested and indicted.
At the 1967 trial, Carter was represented by well-known attorney Raymond A. Brown
. Brown's focus, eventually unsuccessful, was on inconsistencies in some of the descriptions given by eyewitnesses Marins and Bello. The defense also produced a number of alibi witnesses who testified that Carter and Artis had been in the Nite Spot (another nearby bar) at about the time of the shootings. However, prosecutors were able to impeach the testimony given by these witnesses. Both men were convicted. Although prosecutors had sought the death penalty, jurors recommended that each defendant receive a life sentence for each murder. Judge Samuel Larner imposed two consecutive and one concurrent life sentence on Carter, and three concurrent life sentences on Artis.
In 1974, Bello and Bradley recanted their identifications of Carter and Artis, and these recantations were used as the basis for a motion for a new trial. Judge Samuel Larner denied the motion, saying that the recantations "lacked the ring of truth."
Despite Larner's ruling, Madison Avenue advertising guru George Lois
organized a campaign on Carter's behalf, which led to increasing public support for a retrial or pardon. Muhammad Ali
lent his support to the campaign, and Bob Dylan
co-wrote (with Jacques Levy
) and performed a song called "Hurricane
" (1975), which declared that Carter was innocent. In 1976 Dylan performed the song at a concert at Trenton State Prison
, where Carter was temporarily an inmate.
However, during the hearing on the recantations, defense attorneys also argued that Bello and Bradley had lied during the 1967 trial, telling the jurors that they had made only certain narrow, limited deals with prosecutors, in exchange for their trial testimony. DeSimone had taped one interrogation of Bello in 1966, and when it was played during the recantation hearing, defense attorneys argued that the tape revealed promises beyond what Bello had testified to. If so, prosecutors had either had a Brady obligation to disclose this additional exculpatory evidence, or a duty to disclose the fact that their witnesses had lied on the stand.
Larner denied this second argument as well, but the New Jersey Supreme Court
unanimously held that the evidence of various deals made between the prosecution and witnesses Bello and Bradley should have been disclosed to the defense before or during the 1967 trial as this could have "affected the jury's evaluation of the credibility" of the eyewitnesses. "The defendants' right to a fair trial was substantially prejudiced", said Justice Mark Sullivan. The original convictions were set aside and Carter and Artis were granted a new trial.
Despite the difficulties of prosecuting a ten-year-old case, Prosecutor Burrell Ives Humphreys decided to try Carter and Artis again. To ensure, as best he could, that he would not use perjured testimony to obtain a conviction, Humphreys had Bello polygraphed, once by Leonard H. Harrelson and a second time by Richard Arther , both of whom were well-known and highly-respected experts in the field. Both men concluded that Bello was telling the truth when he said that he had seen Carter, outside the Lafayette immediately after the murders.
However, Harrelson also reported orally that Bello had been inside the bar shortly before and at the time of the shooting, a conclusion that contradicted Bello's 1967 trial testimony. Despite this oral report, Harrelson's subsequent written report stated that Bello's 1967 testimony had been truthful, the polygraphist apparently unaware that in 1967 Bello testified that he had been on the street at the time of the shooting.
The defense responded with testimony from multiple witnesses identifying Carter at the locations he claimed to be at the morning the murders happened.
Defense witness Fred Hogan – whose efforts had led to the discredited recantations of Bello and Bradley – dealt the defense yet another blow. Although Hogan denied ever offering any bribes or inducements to Bello, Judge Bruno Leopizzi forced him to produce his original handwritten notes on his conversations with Bello.
The court also heard testimony from a Carter associate that Passaic County
prosecutors had tried to pressure her into testifying against Carter. Prosecutors denied the charge.
After deliberating for almost nine hours, the jury again found Carter and Artis guilty of the murders. Judge Leopizzi re-imposed the same sentences on both men – a double life sentence for Carter, a single life sentence for Artis.
Artis was parole
d in 1981.
Carter's attorneys continued to appeal. In 1982, the Supreme Court of New Jersey affirmed his convictions (4–3). While the justices felt that the prosecutors should have disclosed Harrelson's oral opinion (about Bello's location at the time of the murders) to the defense, only a minority thought this was material. The majority thus concluded there had been no violation of Brady.
in federal court. In 1985, Judge Haddon Lee Sarokin
of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
granted the writ, noting that the prosecution had been "predicated upon an appeal to racism rather than reason, and concealment rather than disclosure," and set aside the convictions.
Carter, 48 years old, was freed without bail in November 1985.
Prosecutors appealed Sarokin's ruling to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals
and filed a motion with the court to return Carter to prison pending the outcome of the appeal. The court denied this motion and eventually upheld Sarokin's opinion, affirming his Brady analysis without commenting on his other rationale.
The prosecutors appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case.
Prosecutors could have tried Carter (and Artis) a third time, but decided not to, and filed a motion to dismiss the original indictments. "It is just not legally feasible to sustain a prosecution, and not practical after almost 22 years to be trying anyone", said New Jersey Attorney General W. Cary Edwards. Acting Passaic County Prosecutor John P. Goceljak said several factors made a retrial impossible, including Bello's "current unreliability" as a witness and the unavailability of other witnesses. Goceljak also doubted whether the prosecution could reintroduce the racially motivated crime theory due to the federal court rulings. A judge granted the motion to dismiss, bringing an end to the legal proceedings.
, Ontario
, and was executive director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted
(AIDWYC) from 1993 until 2005. Carter resigned when the AIDWYC declined to support Carter's protest of the appointment (to a judgeship) of the prosecutor of Canadian Guy Paul Morin
In 1996 Carter, then 59, was arrested when Toronto police mistakenly identified him as a suspect in his thirties believed to have sold drugs to an undercover officer. He was released after the police realized their error.
Carter often serves as a motivational speaker
. On October 14, 2005, he received two honorary Doctorates of Law, one from York University
(Toronto, Ontario, Canada) and one from Griffith University
(Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), in recognition of his work with AIDWYC and the Innocence Project
. Carter received the Abolition Award from Death Penalty Focus
in 1996.
Carter later discussed at a lecture how he fell in love with Washington's portrayal of him during auditions for The Hurricane, noting that boxer Marvin Hagler and actors Wesley Snipes
and Samuel L. Jackson
were all vying for the role.
Carter also appeared as himself in Dylan's 1975 movie Renaldo and Clara
.
Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson is a city serving as the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 146,199, rendering it New Jersey's third largest city and one of the largest cities in the New York City Metropolitan Area, despite a decrease of 3,023...
. He and another man, John Artis, were tried and convicted twice (1967 and 1976) for the murders, but after the second conviction was overturned in 1985, prosecutors chose not to try the case for a third time. From 1993 to 2005 Carter served as executive director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted
Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted
Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted or AIDWYC, is a Toronto based non-profit organization founded in 1993 that is dedicated to the prevention of wrongful convictions and the reversal of cases that have already occurred...
.
Early life
Carter grew up in Paterson, New JerseyPaterson, New Jersey
Paterson is a city serving as the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 146,199, rendering it New Jersey's third largest city and one of the largest cities in the New York City Metropolitan Area, despite a decrease of 3,023...
, the fourth of seven children. He acquired a record and was sentenced to a juvenile reformatory for assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
and robbery shortly after his 14th birthday. Carter escaped from the reformatory in 1954 and joined the Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. A few months after completing infantry basic training
Basic Training
Basic Training may refer to:* Basic Training, a 1971 American documentary directed by Frederick Wiseman* Basic Training , an American sex comedy* Recruit training...
at Fort Jackson, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, he was sent to West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
. In his first year, Carter compiled a 35-5 record and won the European Lightweight Championship. He began going to classes—including a Dale Carnegie
Dale Carnegie
Dale Breckenridge Carnegie was an American writer, lecturer, and the developer of famous courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills...
class, which helped him to conquer his stuttering problem. He even adopted Islam and changed his name for a while. Carter performed poorly as a soldier, and was court-martial
Court-martial
A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
ed four times for charges ranging from being AWOL. In May 1956, he received an "Undesirable" discharge, having served 21 months of his three-year term of enlistment.
Carter was discharged from the Army on May 29, 1956, and was arrested less than a month later for his escape from Jamesburg Home for Boys. After his return to New Jersey, Carter was picked up by authorities and sentenced to an additional 9 months for escaping from the reformatory, he went to Annandale prison for five months. Shortly after being released, Carter committed a series of muggings, including assault and robbery of a middle-aged black woman. He pled guilty to the charges and was imprisoned in East Jersey State Prison in Avenel, New Jersey
Avenel, New Jersey
Avenel is a census-designated place and unincorporated area within Woodbridge Township, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the CDP population was 17,552...
, a maximum-security facility, where he would remain for the next four years. and spent time in the Rahway
Rahway State Prison
East Jersey State Prison , originally Rahway State Prison, was established in 1896 as the first reformatory in New Jersey. It is a maximum-security institution operated by the New Jersey Department of Corrections, housing approximately 1,900 men .The prison is actually located in Avenel in...
and Trenton state prisons until his release in September 1961.
Boxing career
Upon his release from prison in September 1961, Carter turned professional boxer. At 5 ft 8 in (1.7 m), Carter was shorter than the average middleweightMiddleweight
Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...
, but he fought all of his professional career at 155–160 lb (70–72.6 kg). His aggressive style and punching power (resulting in many early-round knockouts) drew attention, establishing him as a crowd favorite and earning him the nickname "Hurricane." After he had beaten a number of middleweight contenders such as Florentuno Fernandez, Holley Mims
Holley Mims
Holley Mims was a highly-regarded middleweight during the 1950s and 60s. His overall record 64-27-6 meant that he spent much of his career ranked among the top ten middleweights...
, Gomeo Brennan, and George Benton, the boxing world took notice. The Ring
The Ring (magazine)
The Ring is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into question, The Ring shifted to becoming exclusively a boxing oriented publication...
first listed him as one of its "Top 10" middleweight contenders in July 1963.
He fought six times in 1963, winning four bouts and losing two. He remained ranked in the lower part of the top 10 until December 20, when he surprised the boxing world by flooring past and future world champion Emile Griffith
Emile Griffith
Emile Alphonse Griffith is a former boxer who was the first fighter from the U.S. Virgin Islands ever to become a world champion. He is perhaps best known for his controversial third fight with Benny Paret in 1962 for the welterweight world championship...
twice in the first round and scoring a technical knockout.
That win resulted in Ring Magazine ranking Carter as the #3 contender for Joey Giardello
Joey Giardello
Carmine Orlando Tilelli was an American boxer who was the middleweight champion of the world from 1963 to 1965, and was better known by his professional pseudonym of Joey Giardello.-Early life:...
's world middleweight
Middleweight
Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...
title. Carter won two more fights (one a decision over future heavyweight
Heavyweight
Heavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...
champion Jimmy Ellis
Jimmy Ellis
James Albert "Jimmy" Ellis is a retired boxer from Louisville, Kentucky. He fought in what some consider to be the greatest heavyweight era of all-time, which included Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Jerry Quarry, Floyd Patterson, Oscar Bonavena, Earnie Shavers and George Chuvalo among...
) in 1964, before meeting Giardello in Philadelphia for a 15-round championship match on December 14. Carter fought well in the early rounds, landing a few solid rights to the head, but failed to follow them up and Giardello took control of the fight in the fifth round. The judges awarded Giardello a unanimous decision. An informal poll conducted among ringside sportswriters agreed that Giardello had outboxed the challenger. Carter would later claim that he won at least nine rounds.
After that fight, Carter's standing as a contender — as reflected by his ranking in Ring Magazine — began to decline. He fought nine times in 1965, but lost three of four fights against top contenders (Luis Manuel Rodríguez
Luis Manuel Rodriguez
Luis Manuel Rodríguez was a professional boxing champion. Known as "El Feo", Rodriguez began his career in pre-Castro Havana. In Cuba, Rodriguez twice defeated the ill-fated future welterweight champion Benny Kid Paret.After the Cuban Revolution, Rodríguez campaigned in the United States...
, British Nigerian
British Nigerian
British Nigerian is a term sometimes used to describe British people of Nigerian descent. Many Nigerians and their British-born descendents live in South London.- History :...
Dick Tiger
Dick Tiger
Dick Tiger CBE was a boxer from Ubahu village, Amaigbo, Nigeria, who emigrated to Liverpool and later to the United States of America. Tiger was a member of the Igbo ethnic group...
, and Harry Scott). Tiger, in particular, had no problem with Carter, flooring him three times in their match. "It was", Carter said, "the worst beating that I took in my life — inside or outside the ring." During his visit to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(to fight Scott) Carter was involved in an incident in which a shot was fired in his hotel room.
Carter's career record in boxing was 27 wins, 12 losses and one draw in 40 fights, with 19 total knockouts (8 KOs and 11 TKOs).
He received an honorary championship title belt from the World Boxing Council
World Boxing Council
The World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo...
in 1993 (as did Joey Giardello
Joey Giardello
Carmine Orlando Tilelli was an American boxer who was the middleweight champion of the world from 1963 to 1965, and was better known by his professional pseudonym of Joey Giardello.-Early life:...
at the same banquet) and was later inducted into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame.
Murders
On June 17, 1966, at approximately 2:30 a.m., two black males entered the Lafayette Bar and Grill in Paterson, New JerseyPaterson, New Jersey
Paterson is a city serving as the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 146,199, rendering it New Jersey's third largest city and one of the largest cities in the New York City Metropolitan Area, despite a decrease of 3,023...
, and started shooting. The bartender, James Oliver, and a male customer, Fred Nauyoks, were killed instantly. A severely wounded female customer, Hazel Tanis, died almost a month later, having been shot in the throat, stomach, intestine
Intestine
In human anatomy, the intestine is the segment of the alimentary canal extending from the pyloric sphincter of the stomach to the anus and, in humans and other mammals, consists of two segments, the small intestine and the large intestine...
, spleen
Spleen
The spleen is an organ found in virtually all vertebrate animals with important roles in regard to red blood cells and the immune system. In humans, it is located in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen. It removes old red blood cells and holds a reserve of blood in case of hemorrhagic shock...
and left lung
Lung
The lung is the essential respiration organ in many air-breathing animals, including most tetrapods, a few fish and a few snails. In mammals and the more complex life forms, the two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart...
, and her arm being shattered by shotgun pellets
Lead shot
Lead shot is a collective term for small balls of lead. These were the original projectiles for muskets and early rifles, but today lead shot is fired primarily from shotguns. It is also used for a variety of other purposes...
. A third customer, Willie Marins, survived the attack, despite a gunshot wound to the head that cost him the sight in one eye. Both Marins and Tanis told police that the shooters had been black males after being interrogated, although neither identified Carter or John Artis, both of whom were subsequently arrested, charged, tried, and convicted.
Petty criminal Alfred Bello, who had been near the Lafayette to commit a burglary of a factory that night, was an eyewitness. Bello later testified that he was approaching the Lafayette when two black males - one carrying a shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
, the other a pistol
Pistol
When distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...
- came around the corner walking towards him. He ran from them, and they got into a white car that was double-parked near the Lafayette. Bello was one of the first people on the scene of the shootings, as was Patricia Graham (later Patricia Valentine), a resident on the second floor (above the Lafayette Bar and Grill). Graham told the police that she saw two black males get into a white car and drive westbound. Another neighbor, Ronald Ruggiero, also heard the shots and said that when he looked from his window he saw Alfred Bello running west on Lafayette Street toward 16th Street. He then heard the screech of tires and saw a white car shoot past, heading west, with two black males in the front seat.Both Bello and Valentine provided a description of the car to the police, which changed at the second court case: Valentine claimed that the lights lit up like butterflies, which Carter's car did not have; only the two end lights lit up
First conviction
Carter's car matched this description, and police stopped it and brought Carter and another occupant, John Artis, to the scene about 31 minutes after the incident. There was little physical evidence; police took no fingerprints at the crime scene, and lacked the facilities to conduct a paraffin testGunshot residue
Gunshot residue is principally composed of burnt and unburnt particles from the explosive primer, the propellant, as well as components from the bullet, the cartridge case and the firearm used...
on Carter and Artis. None of the eyewitnesses identified Carter or Artis as the shooters. Carter, in fact, was brought to the hospital the evening of the shooting at approximately 4a.m., and victim Willie Marins identified Carter as not one of the shooters.
On searching the car about 45 minutes later, Detective Emil DiRobbio found a live .32 caliber pistol round under the front passenger seat and a 12-gauge shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
shell in the trunk. Ballistics later established that the murder weapons had been a .32 caliber pistol and a twelve-gauge shotgun. The defense would later raise questions about this evidence, as it was not logged with a property clerk until five days after the murders.
Carter and Artis were taken to police headquarters and questioned. They were released later that day.
Several months later, Bello disclosed to the police that he had an accomplice during the attempted burglary, one Arthur Dexter Bradley. On further questioning, Bello and Bradley both identified Carter as one of the two males they had seen carrying weapons outside the bar the night of the murders; Bello also identified Artis as the other. Based on this additional evidence, Carter and Artis were arrested and indicted.
At the 1967 trial, Carter was represented by well-known attorney Raymond A. Brown
Raymond A. Brown
Raymond A. Brown was an American criminal defense lawyer who represented a wide variety of high-profile clients, ranging from politicians to accused spies, including New Jersey state senator Angelo Errichetti , boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and "Dr...
. Brown's focus, eventually unsuccessful, was on inconsistencies in some of the descriptions given by eyewitnesses Marins and Bello. The defense also produced a number of alibi witnesses who testified that Carter and Artis had been in the Nite Spot (another nearby bar) at about the time of the shootings. However, prosecutors were able to impeach the testimony given by these witnesses. Both men were convicted. Although prosecutors had sought the death penalty, jurors recommended that each defendant receive a life sentence for each murder. Judge Samuel Larner imposed two consecutive and one concurrent life sentence on Carter, and three concurrent life sentences on Artis.
In 1974, Bello and Bradley recanted their identifications of Carter and Artis, and these recantations were used as the basis for a motion for a new trial. Judge Samuel Larner denied the motion, saying that the recantations "lacked the ring of truth."
Despite Larner's ruling, Madison Avenue advertising guru George Lois
George Lois
George Lois is a controversial American art director, designer, and author. Lois is best known for over 92 covers he designed for Esquire Magazine...
organized a campaign on Carter's behalf, which led to increasing public support for a retrial or pardon. Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
lent his support to the campaign, and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
co-wrote (with Jacques Levy
Jacques Levy
Jacques Levy was an American songwriter, theatre director, and clinical psychologist.Levy was born in New York City in 1935, and attended its City College. He received a doctorate in psychology from Michigan State University. Levy was a trained psychoanalyst, certified by the Menninger Institute...
) and performed a song called "Hurricane
Hurricane (song)
"Hurricane" is a protest song by Bob Dylan co-written with Jacques Levy, about the imprisonment of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. It compiles alleged acts of racism and profiling against Carter, which Dylan describes as leading to a false trial and conviction....
" (1975), which declared that Carter was innocent. In 1976 Dylan performed the song at a concert at Trenton State Prison
New Jersey State Prison
The New Jersey State Prison , formerly known as Trenton State Prison, is a state prison in Trenton, New Jersey operated by the New Jersey Department of Corrections. It accommodated over 1,900 prisoners as of January, 2005....
, where Carter was temporarily an inmate.
However, during the hearing on the recantations, defense attorneys also argued that Bello and Bradley had lied during the 1967 trial, telling the jurors that they had made only certain narrow, limited deals with prosecutors, in exchange for their trial testimony. DeSimone had taped one interrogation of Bello in 1966, and when it was played during the recantation hearing, defense attorneys argued that the tape revealed promises beyond what Bello had testified to. If so, prosecutors had either had a Brady obligation to disclose this additional exculpatory evidence, or a duty to disclose the fact that their witnesses had lied on the stand.
Larner denied this second argument as well, but the New Jersey Supreme Court
New Jersey Supreme Court
The New Jersey Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It has existed in three different forms under the three different state constitutions since the independence of the state in 1776...
unanimously held that the evidence of various deals made between the prosecution and witnesses Bello and Bradley should have been disclosed to the defense before or during the 1967 trial as this could have "affected the jury's evaluation of the credibility" of the eyewitnesses. "The defendants' right to a fair trial was substantially prejudiced", said Justice Mark Sullivan. The original convictions were set aside and Carter and Artis were granted a new trial.
Despite the difficulties of prosecuting a ten-year-old case, Prosecutor Burrell Ives Humphreys decided to try Carter and Artis again. To ensure, as best he could, that he would not use perjured testimony to obtain a conviction, Humphreys had Bello polygraphed, once by Leonard H. Harrelson and a second time by Richard Arther , both of whom were well-known and highly-respected experts in the field. Both men concluded that Bello was telling the truth when he said that he had seen Carter, outside the Lafayette immediately after the murders.
However, Harrelson also reported orally that Bello had been inside the bar shortly before and at the time of the shooting, a conclusion that contradicted Bello's 1967 trial testimony. Despite this oral report, Harrelson's subsequent written report stated that Bello's 1967 testimony had been truthful, the polygraphist apparently unaware that in 1967 Bello testified that he had been on the street at the time of the shooting.
Second conviction and appeal
During the new trial, witness Alfred Bello repeated his 1967 testimony, identifying Carter and Artis as the two armed men he had seen outside the Lafayette Grill. Bradley refused to cooperate with prosecutors, and neither prosecution nor defense called him as a witness. Three of Carter's alibi witnesses from the first trial (Catherine McGuire, her mother Anna Mapes, and Welton Deary) appeared as prosecution witnesses, and testified that Carter and his attorney had persuaded them to commit perjury at the first trial, to provide Carter with a false alibi. Although Raymond Brown denied he had done anything of the sort, prosecutors had a letter that Carter had written to McGuire from jail, describing the false alibi. (Although the jurors never actually saw the letter's contents, the letter was displayed to McGuire in their presence.)The defense responded with testimony from multiple witnesses identifying Carter at the locations he claimed to be at the morning the murders happened.
Defense witness Fred Hogan – whose efforts had led to the discredited recantations of Bello and Bradley – dealt the defense yet another blow. Although Hogan denied ever offering any bribes or inducements to Bello, Judge Bruno Leopizzi forced him to produce his original handwritten notes on his conversations with Bello.
The court also heard testimony from a Carter associate that Passaic County
Passaic County, New Jersey
Passaic County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 501,226. Its county seat is Paterson...
prosecutors had tried to pressure her into testifying against Carter. Prosecutors denied the charge.
After deliberating for almost nine hours, the jury again found Carter and Artis guilty of the murders. Judge Leopizzi re-imposed the same sentences on both men – a double life sentence for Carter, a single life sentence for Artis.
Artis was parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
d in 1981.
Carter's attorneys continued to appeal. In 1982, the Supreme Court of New Jersey affirmed his convictions (4–3). While the justices felt that the prosecutors should have disclosed Harrelson's oral opinion (about Bello's location at the time of the murders) to the defense, only a minority thought this was material. The majority thus concluded there had been no violation of Brady.
Appeal at the federal court
Three years later, Carter's attorneys filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpusHabeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
in federal court. In 1985, Judge Haddon Lee Sarokin
H. Lee Sarokin
Haddon Lee Sarokin is a retired U.S. district judge and U.S. appeals court judge. Sarokin served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1994 until 1996.- Early life and education :...
of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of New Jersey....
granted the writ, noting that the prosecution had been "predicated upon an appeal to racism rather than reason, and concealment rather than disclosure," and set aside the convictions.
Carter, 48 years old, was freed without bail in November 1985.
Prosecutors appealed Sarokin's ruling to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts:* District of Delaware* District of New Jersey...
and filed a motion with the court to return Carter to prison pending the outcome of the appeal. The court denied this motion and eventually upheld Sarokin's opinion, affirming his Brady analysis without commenting on his other rationale.
The prosecutors appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case.
Prosecutors could have tried Carter (and Artis) a third time, but decided not to, and filed a motion to dismiss the original indictments. "It is just not legally feasible to sustain a prosecution, and not practical after almost 22 years to be trying anyone", said New Jersey Attorney General W. Cary Edwards. Acting Passaic County Prosecutor John P. Goceljak said several factors made a retrial impossible, including Bello's "current unreliability" as a witness and the unavailability of other witnesses. Goceljak also doubted whether the prosecution could reintroduce the racially motivated crime theory due to the federal court rulings. A judge granted the motion to dismiss, bringing an end to the legal proceedings.
Aftermath
Carter now lives in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, and was executive director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted
Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted
Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted or AIDWYC, is a Toronto based non-profit organization founded in 1993 that is dedicated to the prevention of wrongful convictions and the reversal of cases that have already occurred...
(AIDWYC) from 1993 until 2005. Carter resigned when the AIDWYC declined to support Carter's protest of the appointment (to a judgeship) of the prosecutor of Canadian Guy Paul Morin
Guy Paul Morin
Guy Paul Morin is a Canadian who was wrongly convicted of the October 1984 rape and murder of his eight-year-old next-door neighbour, Christine Jessop of Queensville, Ontario. DNA testing led to a subsequent overturning of this verdict....
In 1996 Carter, then 59, was arrested when Toronto police mistakenly identified him as a suspect in his thirties believed to have sold drugs to an undercover officer. He was released after the police realized their error.
Carter often serves as a motivational speaker
Motivational speaking
A motivational speaker or inspirational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. In a business context, they are employed to communicate company strategy with clarity and help employees to see the future in a positive light and inspire workers to pull...
. On October 14, 2005, he received two honorary Doctorates of Law, one from York University
York University
York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....
(Toronto, Ontario, Canada) and one from Griffith University
Griffith University
Griffith University is a public, coeducational, research university located in the southeastern region of the Australian state of Queensland. The university has five satellite campuses located in the Gold Coast, Logan City and in the Brisbane suburbs of Mount Gravatt, Nathan and South Bank. Current...
(Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), in recognition of his work with AIDWYC and the Innocence Project
Innocence Project
An Innocence Project is one of a number of non-profit legal organizations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand dedicated to proving the innocence of wrongly convicted people through the use of DNA testing, and to reforming the criminal justice systems to...
. Carter received the Abolition Award from Death Penalty Focus
Death Penalty Focus
Founded in 1988, Death Penalty Focus is a non-profit organization dedicated to the abolition of capital punishment through grassroots organizing, research, and the dissemination of information about the death penalty and its alternatives....
in 1996.
Popular culture
Carter's story inspired:- the 1975 Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
song "HurricaneHurricane (song)"Hurricane" is a protest song by Bob Dylan co-written with Jacques Levy, about the imprisonment of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. It compiles alleged acts of racism and profiling against Carter, which Dylan describes as leading to a false trial and conviction....
" - Nelson AlgrenNelson AlgrenNelson Algren was an American writer.-Early life:Algren was born Nelson Ahlgren Abraham in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Goldie and Gerson Abraham. At the age of three he moved with his parents to Chicago, Illinois where they lived in a working-class, immigrant neighborhood on the South Side...
's 1983 novel, The Devil's Stocking. - the Norman JewisonNorman JewisonNorman Frederick Jewison, CC, O.Ont is a Canadian film director, producer, actor and founder of the Canadian Film Centre. Highlights of his directing career include In the Heat of the Night , The Thomas Crown Affair , Fiddler on the Roof , Jesus Christ Superstar , Moonstruck , The Hurricane and The...
19991999 in filmThe year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...
feature film The HurricaneThe Hurricane (1999 film)The Hurricane is a 1999 biographical film directed by Norman Jewison, and starring Denzel Washington. The script was adapted by Armyan Bernstein and Dan Gordon from the books Lazarus and the Hurricane by Sam Chaiton and Terry Swinton and The Sixteenth Round by Rubin "Hurricane" Carter.The film...
, starring Denzel WashingtonDenzel WashingtonDenzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
in the lead role
Carter later discussed at a lecture how he fell in love with Washington's portrayal of him during auditions for The Hurricane, noting that boxer Marvin Hagler and actors Wesley Snipes
Wesley Snipes
Wesley Trent Snipes is an American actor, film producer, and martial artist, who has starred in numerous action films, thrillers, and dramatic feature films. Snipes is known for playing the Marvel Comics character Blade in the Blade film trilogy, among various other high profile roles...
and Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
were all vying for the role.
Carter also appeared as himself in Dylan's 1975 movie Renaldo and Clara
Renaldo and Clara
Renaldo and Clara is a surrealist movie, directed by and starring Bob Dylan. Filmed in 1975, during Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour, it was released in 1978...
.
Further reading
- Wice, Paul B. Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and the American Justice System, Rutgers University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0813528649.