Monday, April 9, 2018

The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row

Book: The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row
Basic Information : Synopsis : Characters : Thoughts : Evaluation : Table of Contents : References

Basic Information:
Author: Anthony Ray Hinton, Bryan Stevenson (Introduction), Lara Love Hardin
Edition: Hardcover from Mountain View Public Library
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250124719 (ISBN13: 9781250124715)
Start Date: March 31, 2018
Read Date: April 9, 2018
272 pages
Genre: Autobiography
Language Warning: Low
Rated Overall: 4 out of 5
History: 3 out of 5


Synopsis (Caution: Spoiler Alert-Jump to Thoughts):
Things are quiet enough, Anthony Ray Hinton has gotten himself into minor trouble-writing bad checks and stealing a car. But through his mother, he has turned over a new leaf and trying to work off his debt. On the night of a murder, Hinton is working for ManPower in a locked, guarded in factory. The murder happens 15 miles away.

A childhood acquaintance implicates Hinton in the murder and the police pick him up for two other murders as well. While searching his mother’s residence, they find a gun, which they say shot the three people.

During the trial, he was represented by a lawyer who felt imposed upon because he had to represent Hinton. It turns out that the prosecutor and the lawyer were friends. Hinton’s polygraph results was ruled inadmissible, while the ballistics tests were. The ballistics expert hired by the defense to counter the prosecution had one good eye and was mocked as being a fraud. Consequently Hinton was convicted and sentenced to death.

He continues to rely on his lawyer to clear him through the appeals process. But it becomes apparent that the lawyer only wants money rather than justice. Eventually Hinton and his family cannot raise the money the lawyer wants, so he is fired. Another lawyer signs onto the case and starts to shake down the family as well. Through this, Hinton decides to be silent in his 5’x7’ prison cell. Finally Hinton meets a lawyer who is working for him. But as it looks like progress is being made, she takes another job.

By now, Hinton has heard of a lawyer named Bryan Stevenson. Hinton says it is him or nobody. After interviewing Hinton, Stevenson takes on the case. This man works all of the angles. He understands public relations, how to work with a client-even as a prisoner, and the law. Over the next 15-20 years Stevenson works the process of getting Hinton a new trial, taking the case all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. When the justices hears the facts of the case, including the new ballistics tests, they not only agree that Hinton did not receive a fair trial, but said that he is innocent and sets him free.

One of the amazing things about this man is how he fights for justice without being vindictive. This did not happen all at once. In the beginning, if he had gotten a chance, he would have killed the prosecutor and the judge. But as he heard others break down on death row, he felt for them and started opening up. This opening up first was with the other prisoners, then with the guards. He learned how that honey catches more goodwill than anger. This is not to say he was not angry or depressed at times, but even in these circumstances he was able to look outside of himself.


Cast of Characters:
  • Anthony Ray Hinton-Author and person who wrongly served 30 years on death row
  • Bryan Stevenson-Lawyer who was able to show Hinton’s innocence. Also wrote about it in a book called Just Mercy.
  • Hinton’s mother-the steadying force in Hinton’s life.
  • Lester Bailey-Hinton’s longtime friend from grade school all the way through prison, Lester sticks with Hinton.

Thoughts:
The thoughts and questions which occurs to me include:

What was the judicial system so intense on convicting hinton? Was there something else in the background? Where they content just to convict anyone? Any black man? Hinton lays out what happens from his perspective. He obviously feels wronged but you do not get the feeling of hatred against the judge or prosecutor. But he is puzzled by what he sees are obvious conflicts of justice and actuality.

But this gets to what kind of man is Hinton? Why doesn’t he become more vindictive once he is out?

How I got introduced to this book was by reading a chapter from the Longreads.com site. The thing which interested me was him starting up a book group, on death row. There was the warmth of trying something new, hesitancy of going into something different, and the fascinating with learning of new possibilities. That chapter got me to reading more.


Evaluation:
 I started reading this book because of an excerpt on Longreads.com-it grabbed my attention. The question is, would the rest of the book continue to grab my attention? The answer is yes. The writing is average and nothing which I would go out of the way to read. But Hinton’s story is compelling. There are several themes to it:
  • Innocent man unfairly convicted
  • Racial injustice of the justice system
  • The large amount of innocent people on death row
  • Redemption of a man
  • Innocence eventually, after 30 years, is established
But is the the man himself which is the centerpiece of the book. How Hinton can cope and overcome and forgive in such a circumstance is the man story.

 

Book References:
  • Go Tell It On the Mountain  by James Baldwin


Table of Contents:
  • Foreword Bryan Stevenson ix
  • 1 Capital Offense 1
  • 2 All American 15
  • 3 A Two-Year Test Drive 26
  • 4 The Cooler Killer 37
  • 5 Premeditated Guilt 49
  • 6 The Whole Truth 55
  • 7 Conviction, Conviction, Conviction 67
  • 8 Keep Your Mouth Shut 77
  • 9 On Appeal 86
  • 10 The Death Squad 98
  • 11 Waiting to Die 110
  • 12 The Queen of England 119
  • 13 No Monsters 129
  • 14 Love Is a Foreign Language 139
  • 15 Go Tell It on the Mountain 148
  • 16 Shakedown 157
  • 17 God's Best Lawyer 166
  • 18 Testing the Bullets 173
  • 19 Empty Chairs 183
  • 20 Dissent 203
  • 21 They Kill You on Thursdays 215
  • 22 Justice for All 224
  • 23 The Sun Does Shine 230
  • 24 Bang on the Bars 237
  • Afterword: Pray for Them by Name 243
  • Acknowledgments 253

References:

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