Anthony Ray Hinton

Alibi at locked warehouse

Hinton testified he was working inside a warehouse where employees were locked in from midnight to 6 a.m. on the night Smotherman was robbed and shot. Co-workers and a supervisor supported the alibi that he was at work about 15 miles away.

Consistent denial

Hinton denied involvement in all three crimes.

Vehicle mismatch

Hinton said he drove a small red Nissan and owned a small yellow Volkswagen, neither matching the larger car Smotherman described his attacker driving.

No other evidence from home search

Police searching his home found the old, very worn .38 revolver but no other evidence linking him to the crimes.

Polygraph showed no deception

Hinton took a polygraph and the examiner found no deception when he denied involvement; the trial judge kept the results from the jury.

State's own re-examination cleared the gun

Before retrial, the State's own re-examination concluded the bullets could not be linked to the gun.

Three leading firearms examiners (2002)

Post-conviction testimony from three top firearms/toolmark examiners established that the crime-scene bullets could not be matched to the revolver from Hinton's home, and may not have come from the same gun at all.

Prosecution experts agreed before retrial

New prosecution experts re-examined the evidence ahead of retrial and reached the same conclusion, which triggered the dismissal of charges in 2015.

Ineffective assistance of counsel

The U.S. Supreme Court held unanimously in 2014 that counsel's failure to seek adequate expert funds was based on ignorance of the amended funding statute rather than strategy, rendering his performance constitutionally deficient under the Sixth Amendment. The Registry lists "Inadequate Legal Defense" as a contributing factor.

Misunderstood expert-funding statute

The Registry notes the funding statute, once capped, had been amended before Hinton's trial to permit "any expenses reasonably incurred" with advance approval by the trial judge.

Reported prosecutorial bias

DPIC reports the prosecutor had a documented history of racial bias and said he could tell Hinton was guilty and "evil" just by looking at him. Stevenson and Hinton have both described race and poverty as central to the conviction and to the State's years-long refusal to retest the gun; the Registry does not list Official Misconduct as a contributing factor in this case.

State firearms/toolmark testimony

State examiners testified that all six bullets from the three crimes came from the revolver found under Hinton's mother's mattress. This was the sole physical evidence against him and was later refuted.

Mistaken eyewitness identification

Smotherman picked Hinton from a photo lineup after a newspaper artist's composite sketch and a tip from Quincy's employee Reginald White that the sketch looked like Hinton.

Unqualified defense ballistics expert

The defense's own expert, hired for the $1,000 counsel believed was available, had no training or experience in firearms identification, did not know how to use a comparison microscope, did not test-fire the gun, and had sight in only one eye. He testified his results were inconclusive and was badly discredited on cross-examination.