This is a wonderfully crafted book about one of the most insidious evils with which we still struggle, about 2 men who had their lives taken from them, and extraordinary people who made freedom for Mr. Carter their full time passion.
The quote of this review is still pathetically true; the statement refers to "we are looking for two Negroes". This story is not unique; it's tempting to say it's not unusual, but that would be letting the cynics win, and Mr. Carter never allowed that to infect him. And many of the historical clichés just won't work with this story.
Racism in the South or Deep South? no, New Jersey.
Southern Klan? no, Northeast Yankees.
Takes place before The Civil Rights Acts, before we were supposed to be evolving as people and citizens? no, Mr. Carter gained his freedom when he finally was legally exonerated on February 27, 1988! This was after 2 decades, 140,000 plus pages of documents, several trials, all generated, pursued, and ended only when the State Of New Jersey had no legal options left. Only when the State agreed not to try Mr. Carter a THIRD time, as long as he did not pursue a Civil Suit against the State! After 21 years of the pursuit of 2 men that were suspected, arrested, tried, and convicted for the color of their skin, New Jersey was worried about money!
The Author opens the book with a reference to Mr. Richard Bruno Hauptmann. This man was executed for his alleged killing/kidnapping of the child of Anne and Charles Lindbergh. Mr. Hirsch sets this book up brilliantly by mentioning a man who while most probably involved, was in no way deserving of death, and thought by many to be a victim, to a much lesser degree perhaps, than Mr. Carter. So the book opens with Mr. Carter a few cells down from the electric chair upon which Mr. Hauptman was killed. Wonderfully crafted opening, a clever parallel sketched if not drawn, and the book goes on and never slows until the end.
Mr. Carter is remarkable. The "Canadians" were unique, as were Mr. Carter's lawyers. They never quit until they had won, until the State of New Jersey had run out of options to pursue their case which Judge Sarokin had at various times called; "...insufferably galling. It is akin to plucking a man's eyes out and condemning him because he cannot see. It has consistently been the misconduct of the State, under the color of law, which has frustrated and prolonged its realization" (it, refers to the 2 accused and their case which "have never enjoyed a full, fair and unforced disclosure of the facts to which they have been constitutionally entitled".)
When Mr. Carter's Father died his obituary proclaimed him to be the Father of "a convicted triple murderer".
Mr. John Artis who was the co-defendant of Mr. Carter, is another extremely rare type of human being. In all the years, trials, interrogations, he never, never, ever, cut a deal for himself in exchange for implicating Mr. Carter. Was this Hurricane Carter a life-long friend, a good friend, how about they barely knew each other the night of the crime? Mr. Artis got a ride home that evening. And Mr. Artis was indirectly sentenced to death by The State Of New Jersey's persecutors. He contracted a disease in prison attributable to the conditions he was wrongfully incarcerated for, and that has cost him 6 amputations of digits and toes, and will eventually claim his life. This man would not cut a deal for himself, or harm a man he was a casual acquaintance of, if he was even that.
No one from The State of New Jersey who persecuted these men suffered, no one was punished for what they had done, and asked if an apology was owed, Mr. Belsole of the New Jersey State Attorney General's Office, "believed that amends or apologies would have mocked the criminal justice system". Certainly he and everyone involved with the prosecution/persecution of these men are indeed experts on what mockery, and mockery of justice is.
Mr. Carter's enemies still claim he was released on a technicality, a charge that Leon Friedman, one of Mr. Carter's attorneys, responds to with " It was a technicality - it's called the U.S. Constitution".
