John Artis, wrongly convicted alongside boxer ‘Hurricane’ Carter, dies at 75
vv
John Artis, wrongly convicted alongside boxer ‘Hurricane’ Carter, dies at 75
John Artis, who was wrongly convicted with boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter in a triple murder case made famous in a 1975 song by Bob Dylan and a 1999 film staring Denzel Washington, has died aged 75.
He died of a gastric aneurysm at his home in Hampton, Virginia, said Fred Hogan, the long-time friend who worked to help overturn the convictions.
The two men were convicted following a 1966 killing at a bar in Paterson, New Jersey.
The three victims were white; witnesses said the men who killed them were black. Artis and Carter were each sentenced to three life terms after being convicted by an all-white jury based mainly on the testimony of two thieves who later recanted.
Dylan became aware of Carter’s plight after reading the boxer’s autobiography. He met Carter and co-wrote the song Hurricane, which he performed on his Rolling Thunder Revue tour in 1975.
After years of appeals and advocacy, including by the boxing great Muhammad Ali and other celebrities, the men were released.
Artis was given parole in 1981. In 1985, US District Judge H Lee Sarokin threw out the convictions, writing that the prosecution had been “predicated upon an appeal to racism rather than reason, and concealment rather than disclosure”.
© Anthony Camerano Co-defendants John Artis and Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter arrive at Pasaic County Courthouse Annex in 1967. (Anthony Camerano/AP)
Mr Hogan said Artis was the “forgotten man” in the case, which drew widespread attention to Carter, but little to Artis. He said Carter often called Artis his “hero” because Artis turned down an offer for a reduced prison term if he would implicate Carter in the killings.
They remained close friends until Carter died in 2014, Mr Hogan said.
“John was promised a lot of things that would have helped himself avoid prison if he would say that Rubin was involved in the crime. John said, ‘I’m not lying. We didn’t do it, we weren’t there, and I’m not going to get involved in any of that’,” Mr Hogan said.
Mr Hogan said Artis moved back to Virginia, where he was born and spent part of his childhood, in the late 1980s. The New York Times reported that Artis counselled inmates at the Norfolk Juvenile Detention Centre.
He also volunteered and worked on wrongful conviction cases in the US and Canada, Mr Hogan said.
“He had a relatively healthy attitude compared to what most people would have. He wanted to just put that (prison time) behind him,” Mr Hogan said.
“He always had a smile, and his famous saying was, ‘Cool beans’.”
Articles - Latest
- 3.2 MILLION-YEAR-OLD HUMAN ANCESTOR 'LUCY' HAD MASSIVE LEG MUSCLES TO STAND UP STRAIGHT AND CLIMB TREES
- PIONEERING BBC JOURNALIST STEPHEN GRIMASON DIES AGED 67
- AFTER DEATH: WHAT ARE THE BURIAL ALTERNATIVES TO REST IN PEACE?
- THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL REVIEW – THE SEXUAL STRATEGISING OF THE CONNIVING BOLEYN FAMILY BROUGHT SHARPLY TO LIFE
- MICHAEL BYRNE DIES AGED 36 AS TRIBUTES PAID TO FORMER GRAND NATIONAL JOCKEY
- Ukraine’s former Olympian weightlifter Oleksandr Pielieshenko killed in action
- FROM WHITE MISCHIEF TO BILL & TED, JOSS ACKLAND WAS AN ACTOR OF RARE POISE, RANGE AND PATHOS
- FOUNTAINS OF DIAMONDS THAT ERUPT FROM EARTH'S CENTER ARE REVEALING THE LOST HISTORY OF SUPERCONTINENTS
- ANCIENT HUMANS USED CAVE IN SPAIN AS BURIAL SPOT FOR 4 MILLENNIA, 7,000 BONES REVEAL
- THE MOODY BLUES FOUNDER MIKE PINDER HAS DIED AGED 82
- GOLD POCKET WATCH FOUND IN TITANIC SOLD FOR RECORD-BREAKING PRICE
- 5 CATASTROPHIC MEGATHRUST EARTHQUAKES LED TO THE DEMISE OF THE PRE-AZTEC CITY OF TEOTIHUACAN, NEW STUDY SUGGESTS
- FRENCH PALME D’OR WINNER LAURENT CANTET DIES AGED 63
- Norman Lear obituary
- AN UNHOLY TRAFFIC: HOW THE SLAVE TRADE CONTINUED THROUGH THE US CIVIL WAR
- QUEEN CHARLOTTE WAS ‘PERSON OF COLOUR’, MUSEUM CLAIMS IN LGBT GUIDE
- JEANETTE WINTERSON: I DIDN’T BELIEVE IN GHOSTS… UNTIL I STARTED LIVING WITH THEM
- ANCIENT HUMAN ACTIVITY DISCOVERED IN KILOMETER-LONG LAVA CAVE
- DNA ANALYSIS SPANNING 9 GENERATIONS OF PEOPLE REVEALS MARRIAGE PRACTICES OF MYSTERIOUS WARRIOR CULTURE
- LOST CITIES HIDDEN FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS DISCOVERED UNDER FOREST
- LETTER: ALAN ARKIN OBITUARY
- ARCHAEOLOGISTS CRACK MYSTERY OF ANCIENT MAYA AFTER 7,000-YEAR-OLD REMAINS FOUND
- NEW JERSEY REP. DONALD PAYNE JR. DEAD AT 65
Articles - Most Read
- Main
- Contact Us
- The science behind Ouija boards
- Cosmic Consciousness - What is Cosmic Consciousness-2
- Cosmic Consciousness-Introduction
- Cosmic Consciousness - Introduction-2
- MASSIVE 6.1 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE HITS NEW ZEALAND AS NATION STILL REELING FROM CYCLONE
- ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNRAVEL THE TRUTH OF APHRODITE, GODDESS OF LOVE, ON VALENTINE'S DAY
- The Human Condition-Thomas Keating
- Cosmic Consciousness First Words - 1V - 2
- Cosmic Consciousness First Words - V -
- Cosmic Consciousness V - 2
- Cosmic consciousness - First Words - IV
- Cosmic Consciousness - What is Cosmic Consciousness?
- Evolution and Devolution-Chapter 2
- The Human Condition - Thomas keating-3
- The Human Condition-2-Thomas Keating
- Drinking From The Mountain Stream - Milarepa
- Cosmic Consciousness-On the Plane of Self Consciousness
- The Human Condition - 4
- Cosmic Consciousness - 3 - On the Plane of Self Consciousness
- Evolution and Devolution-Chapter 1
- The Human Condition - 6
- Shakyamuni Buddha or India the 1st “Black Revolutionary Hero.”
- On the Plane of Self Consciousness - 2
- Milarepa's World
- The Human Condition - 5
- Milarepa's World-2
- The Buddhist System of Liberation
- Contemplation and the Divine Therapy - 2
- On the Plane of Self Consciousness IV
- The Buddhist System of Liberation - 2
- JERRY RAWLINGS, GHANAIAN STRONG MAN WHO CAME TO POWER IN A COUP BUT INTRODUCED DEMOCRACY – OBITUARY
- On the Plane of Self Consciousness IV - 2