Rubin Hurricane Carter Biography

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World of Criminal Justice on Rubin Hurricane Carter

Rubin Carter, once a noteworthy prizefighter, was wrongfully imprisoned for nearly two decades for murders he did not commit. The son of a Baptist minister, Rubin Carter was born on May 6, 1937, in Clifton, New Jersey. He grew up in Paterson, New Jersey, where he had several encounters with the law at an early age. In his 1974 autobiography, Carter stated, "The kindest thing that I can say about my childhood is that I survived it.".

When he was twelve years old, Carter was arrested for stabbing a man with his Boy Scout knife. Carter claimed that he acted in self-defense, asserting that the man tried to sexually assault him. As a result of this incident, a judge sentenced Carter to a six-year term in the Jamesburg State Home for Boys. Before he completed his sentence, however, Carter escaped and joined the U.S. Army.

While in the Army, Carter began his boxing career. He won several championships and had dreams of becoming a professional boxer. His dreams fell short of reality, however, when authorities discovered his escape from the Jamesburg State Home for Boys. In 1956, the Army discharged Carter and returned him to serve the remaining ten months of his term in the Annandale, New Jersey, Reformatory.

Shortly after Carter completed his sentence, he had yet another encounter with the law. Police arrested Carter in 1957 for purse snatching. A judge sentenced Carter to a four-year term to be served in the Trenton State maximum security prison.

Upon his release from prison, Carter finally pursued his dream of becoming a professional boxer. He did so with much success, despite being only five feet, eight inches tall. Carter lost just five of his fifty-six professional fights, which included thirty-six knockout victories. Carter became well-known for his first round knockout victory against Emile Griffith on December 20, 1963. Just prior to the fight against Carter, boxing writers had awarded Griffith the title of fighter of the year. Based on Carter's reputation as a tough contender, a boxing promoter gave Carter the nickname "Hurricane.". By 1966, Carter came close to reaching the top when he was named the number one-ranked contender for the U.S. middleweight boxing title.

Before he could attempt to claim that title, however, Carter's life took a tragic turn. On June 17, 1966, at approximately 2:30 a.m., two armed African-American men entered the Lafayette Bar & Grill in Paterson, New Jersey. They opened fire, instantly killing the bartender and a patron. Another patron died later from gunshot wounds. A third patron survived but was partially blinded after being shot in the head. Following the shooting, police arrested Carter and John Artis, a nineteen-year-old, college-bound track star who was in Carter's vehicle at the time.

After the prosecution presented evidence that a court would later refer to as "often conflicting and sometimes murky,", the jury found Carter and Artis guilty for the triple murder. Throughout the trial and even after the jury rendered its verdict, both men insisted on their innocence and claimed that they were victims of racism and a police frame-up. They received life sentences.

Carter appealed his conviction and sentence in the New Jersey state courts, but the state courts upheld the jury's verdict. While serving his time in prison, Carter wrote his autobiography, The Sixteenth Round: From Number 1 Contender to Number 45472.The Sixteenth Round became a best-seller in the United States and brought considerable attention to Carter's case. Most notably, Carter received an outpouring of support from celebrities such as singer Bob Dylan, who recorded the song "Hurricane" about Carter in 1975, and Muhammad Ali, who dedicated a Las Vegas fight against Ron Lyle to Carter.

This publicity, in addition to a continuing defense investigation, led to a motion for a new trial, filed on Carter's behalf. In 1976, the New Jersey Supreme Court granted the motion for a new trial, finding that the prosecution violated its duty under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), which permits defendants to inspect any evidence which may be considered exculpatory. On October 12, 1976, the new trial began in the lower court. A jury convicted Carter and Artis for the triple murder once again. On December 22, 1981, Artis was released on parole. Carter remained in prison.

After Carter exhausted his state court appeals and just as he was beginning to lose hope, his situation improved. With the help of lawyers doing pro bono work, Canadians who became acquainted with Carter after reading his book, and a young boy named Lesra Martin, Carter and Artis filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. The writ of habeas corpus, which calls for testing the legality of an imprisonment, gives a court the power to release a prisoner after he has been successfully processed through the criminal justice system. On November 7, 1985, Judge H. Lee Sarokin issued the writ of habeas corpus and overturned the convictions. In doing so, the Judge stated that "[t]he extensive record clearly demonstrates that petitioners' convictions were predicated upon an appeal to racism rather than reason, and concealment rather than disclosure." Carter, 621 F. Supp. at 533. Based upon this ruling, on November 8, 1985, Carter was released after nineteen years of wrongful imprisonment.

Upon his release, Carter moved to Canada. Later, Carter headed the Association for the Defense of the Wrongfully Convicted and became a public speaker. On April 11, 1996, Canadian narcotics officers arrested Carter and took him into custody for allegedly selling cocaine to an undercover police officer. The officers ultimately realized that it was a case of mistaken identity and set Carter free. In January 2000, Universal Pictures released The Hurricane, a movie about Carter's struggle to prove his innocence in the American justice system.