20 reflections on Darryl Hunt:
1/ The wrongful conviction of Darryl Hunt, a Black man falsely accused of murdering a white woman, and the 19 years he spent in prison, is an emblem of the deeply entrenched racism that has disfigured Winston-Salem, NC. (photo via @JournalNow)
1/ The wrongful conviction of Darryl Hunt, a Black man falsely accused of murdering a white woman, and the 19 years he spent in prison, is an emblem of the deeply entrenched racism that has disfigured Winston-Salem, NC. (photo via @JournalNow)
2/ In its own way, the Darryl Hunt saga is an equivalent trauma to what the Greensboro Massacre inflicted on its neighbor 30 miles to the east.
3/ I didn’t know Hunt personally, although I ran into him from time to time at public events while writing for @Triad_City_Beat. But I’ve had the honor of getting to know Larry Little, who was an early champion of Hunt’s innocence.
4/ I've also come to know @PhoebeZerwick, whose groundbreaking coverage of Darryl Hunt's case for @JournalNow helped lead to his exoneration. I've worked under Zerwick as an adjunct instructor in @WakeForest's journalism program.
5/ Even from a distance, the sting of Darryl Hunt’s death in 2016 from suicide still feels personal and hard.
6/ Zerwick's reporting on the Hunt case for @JournalNow in 2003 elicited a tip about another rape involving strikingly similar circumstances as the 1984 murder of Deborah Sykes.
7/ A new investigation followed, confirming that a man named Willard Brown was the one who raped and murdered Sykes. Brown confessed to the murder, and Hunt was finally freed in 2004.
8/ As Zerwick writes in her new book, Beyond Innocence: The Life Sentence of Darryl Hunt, out next month on @groveatlantic, Hunt's exoneration is not a story of triumph.
9/ As journalists, we want to see it that way because it confirms our view that excavating the truth has the power to right major wrongs. But the triumph narrative falsely implies exoneration can wipe clean the stain of racist policing and the harm of the carcereal system.
10/ It also conceals the ongoing trauma that exonerees carry after leaving prison.
11/ As Beyond Innocence sets out in harrowing detail, Hunt experienced a series of crushing disappointments, from the jury’s 1985 conviction through one futile appeal after another, including a judge who refused to overturn his conviction when DNA evidence proved his innocence.
12/ On top of repeated legal setbacks, Hunt had to maintain vigilance against death threats from jailers and prison guards, including at a prison in Caswell County, historically a KKK stronghold.
13/ Through it all, Hunt steadfastly maintained his innocence, and during a second trial for an unrelated murder, he turned down a plea deal that would have allowed him to walk free for time served.
14/ Many have been struck by Hunt’s grace in the midst of these unspeakable travails. This was exemplified when his lawyer @MarkRabil03 visited Hunt in jail to prep him for testifying in his defense at trial.
15/ Playing the prosecutor, Rabil asked Hunt if he prayed for a particular result in the trial. "Yes, I do," Hunt responded. "That the police department would find the right person who did this crime."
Did he pray for himself? Yes, he said. "That I could live a decent life."
Did he pray for himself? Yes, he said. "That I could live a decent life."
16/ Following his release in 2004, Hunt became an inspirational figure, both an eloquent spokesperson for racial justice and a rock of stability for other prisoners coming home. That’s what made his death in 2016 so devastating.
17/ The way I understand it, maintaining his innocence placed a dual burden on Hunt. Not for one minute could he express any anger on the witness stand or in public. In prison, any deviation from stoic self-possession could have cost him his life.
18/ The imperative to never display anger or resentment behind bars carried over to new expectations after release. With so many people counting on him, Hunt could never reveal his inner turmoil.
19/ This is a hard book to read, but a necessary one at the same time. It feels intrusive to pick through Hunt’s personal troubles. It’s also deeply depressing to see a tide of reaction sweep across this country after the decades spent struggling for justice by Hunt's advocates.
20/ The historical arc of progress and backlash, and the complexity of public advocacy and personal struggle are things we need to understand. That why it’s necessary for Darryl Hunt’s legacy to live within our collective memory.
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