A man who spent nearly 30 years on Alabama’s death row was freed Friday after a decades-long fight to prove his innocence.
Ray Hinton, 58, was released in the morning from the Jefferson County Jail in Birmingham. He hugged tearful family members as he walked out and was embraced by his sister, Darlene Gardner, who said “Thank you Lord, thank you Jesus” as she hugged him.
“I shouldn’t have sat on death row for 30 years,” Hinton told reporters. “All they had to do was test the gun.”
Hinton was convicted of the 1985 murders of two Birmingham fast-food restaurant managers. Crime scene bullets were the only evidence that linked Hinton to the crime. However, prosecutors said this week that modern forensic methods did not show the fatal bullets came from a revolver in Hinton’s home, or even from the same gun.
Hinton said he would continue to pray for the victims’ families, as this was a miscarriage of justice for them as well.
“They had every intention of executing me for something I didn’t do,” Hinton said.
The US Supreme Court ruled last year that Hinton had inadequate counsel and sent the case back for a second trial.