Emotional Moment: Alabama Prisoner Released After 30 Years On Death Row For A Crime He Didn't Do!

A 58-year-old Alabama man who spent half his life on death row walked free Good Friday after prosecutors determined he did not fire the gun that killed two fast-food managers during 1985 robberies.The primary evidence police used to link Hinton to the slayings were bullets at two crime scenes. But earlier this week, prosecutors said modern ballistics tests proved they did not come from the .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver found in Hinton's home or even from the same type of gun. The charges were dropped.

"He was convicted because he was poor," said Bryan Stevenson, Hinton's attorney and director of the Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative, who took the case 16 years ago. He said the state refused his appeals to re-test the gun.

Hinton was convicted of the Feb. 25, 1985, slaying of John Davidson, an assistant manager at a Mrs. Winner's Chicken & Biscuits in Birmingham, who was shot twice in the head inside a walk-in cooler. He was also found guilty of the July 2, 1985, killing of Thomas Vason, an assistant manager at a Captain D's, who was likewise shot in the head inside a cooler.

Hinton was sentenced to death in 1987. As he walked out of the Birmingham jail a free man, a tearful Hinton was embraced by family and friends.
Posted By PSmooth