Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, dead

Pedro K

The Hurricane passed away today after his battle with prostate cancer.

R.I.P.

padma

R.I.P

ctrl-alt-delete

One battle too many

R.I.P.

Henno30

Has anyone here read much about his case? Everything I've read about it suggests that he was guilty as sin.

looder

Henno30 wrote: »

Has anyone here read much about his case? Everything I've read about it suggests that he was guilty as sin.

A horrible man it seemed who was made out to be a hero by Dylan and Hollywood.

Henno30

looder wrote: »

A horrible man it seemed who was made out to be a hero by Dylan and Hollywood.

Dylan doesn't play the song anymore either I think. I can understand why people were taken in by his story, it's not as if racially motivated miscarriages of justice weren't happening at the time. But yeah, everything I've learned about the man strongly points towards him being a pretty reprehensible character. His book is an outrageous work of fiction and the film reflects that.

Pedro K

I have no doubt that he was a reprehensible guy when he was younger. I don't think many people will dispute that. I don't think he committed the triple murders for which he was put away though.

pgmcpq

I am familiar with the case and a few people involved.
So yes, Carter himself acknowledged that he was a pretty unpleasant guy. Coming out of 1960s Patterson that's not a surprise. Don't forget that in the late 1960s many US cities had massive riots - nearby Newark being one.

As for the case itself, it was weak and in an effort to bolster the case the prosecutor (humphries) went on a tirade to suggest racial motive to an all white jury. Carter was convicted twice in state court. Once he got to federal court Justice Sarokin tossed the case - and was upheld on appeal.

You might not have liked the younger Carter, but there is no credible evidence to suggest he was guilty. Btw, some of the legal guys involved have told me that the film was a reasonable dramatized version of events.

Dylan never wanted to be a "campaigner" and stopped performing the song when the case faded from the papers soon after the second state trial.

megadodge

pgmcpq wrote: »

I am familiar with the case and a few people involved.
So yes, Carter himself acknowledged that he was a pretty unpleasant guy. Coming out of 1960s Patterson that's not a surprise. Don't forget that in the late 1960s many US cities had massive riots - nearby Newark being one.

As for the case itself, it was weak and in an effort to bolster the case the prosecutor (humphries) went on a tirade to suggest racial motive to an all white jury. Carter was convicted twice in state court. Once he got to federal court Justice Sarokin tossed the case - and was upheld on appeal.

You might not have liked the younger Carter, but there is no credible evidence to suggest he was guilty. Btw, some of the legal guys involved have told me that the film was a reasonable dramatized version of events.

Dylan never wanted to be a "campaigner" and stopped performing the song when the case faded from the papers soon after the second state trial.

Whatever about the legal side of events, the film itself depicted Carter's loss in his world title tilt to Joey Giardello as a racially-influenced blatant robbery. The reality was that it was as fair a decision as you could get. Giardello won comfortably. He was so annoyed at the film's incorrect depiction, he sued the filmmakers and they settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.