Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, U.S. boxer famous in folk song, dies at 76

By  Cameron French  and  Emily Flitter

(Reuters) - Former U.S. professional boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, who spent 19 years in prison for murder and then was released after it was determined he did not get a fair trial, died on Sunday at the age of 76, according to his friend and caretaker John Artis.

Rubin Carter with Denzel Washington, who portrayed former boxer in a 1999 film

Carter, considered a folk hero by many and immortalized in film and song, had been battling prostate cancer for nearly three years, Artis said. He died at home in Toronto, where he had been living since he was released from prison in 1985.

"Those who are wrongfully incarcerated lost a champion," Artis said. "He dedicated his life to helping the people that need the same kind of assistance that we needed, who have been wrongfully convicted and incarcerated."

Once a middleweight boxer who earned a world title fight in 1964, Carter is more well known for the turn his life took after he was arrested for a triple homicide in 1966.

That arrest, his imprisonment, and the ultimately successful battle to free him are immortalized in the 1975 Bob Dylan song "Hurricane" and the 1999 film of the same name, which starred Denzel Washington as Carter.

Born in 1937 in Clifton, New Jersey, Carter ran into trouble with the law as a teenager, serving custodial sentences for assault and robbery, and spending two years in the army.

In his 1974 autobiography titled "The Sixteenth Round", Carter writes of his younger years: "The kindest thing I have to say about my childhood is that I survived it."

In 1961, he channeled his energies into boxing, turning pro and earning a 1964 title match against world champion Joey Giardello, which Carter lost in a unanimous decision.

His career was already in decline in 1966, when he was arrested and charged in a June triple murder in Paterson, New Jersey. He was convicted for the shootings along with Artis, a hitch-hiker he had picked up on the night of the murders.

Carter's case exploded into national consciousness in 1974, when two key witnesses recanted their testimony, sparking a series of stories by the New York Times and making him a cause célèbre for the civil rights movement, and prompting Bob Dylan to release "Hurricane".

He was retried in 1976 and convicted again.

He was released for good in 1985, aided by a group of Canadian activists, including New York-born teen Lesra Martin, after a federal district judge ruled that his convictions "were predicated on an appeal to racism rather than reason, and concealment rather than disclosure." Prosecutors decided not to pursue a third trial.

Despite his release, some have raised doubts about his innocence, claiming the facts of his case still point to his guilt.

After his release, Carter spent about 12 years as executive director of the Toronto-based Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted. He broke acrimoniously with the group in 2004.

"We have freed more than 20 people in the last 15 or 20 years - he played a huge role in that," said James Lockyer, senior counsel to AIDWYC and a founding director of the organization along with Carter.

After his break with AIDWYC, Carter continued to advocate for the wrongly convicted and also worked as a motivational speaker. He remained close friends with Artis, the man with whom he was convicted.

Carter is survived by two children from his first marriage to Mae Thelma.

(Reporting by Cameron French in Toronto and Emily Flitter in New York; Editing by Chris Reese)

Source:  www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/20/us-hurricanecarter-idUSBREA3J0EE20140420

Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter dies at 76

Associated Press

TORONTO -- Rubin "Hurricane'' Carter, the boxer whose wrongful murder conviction became an international symbol of racial injustice, died Sunday at 76.

John Artis, a longtime friend and caregiver, told The Canadian Press that Carter died in his sleep Sunday. Carter had been stricken with prostate cancer in Toronto, the New Jersey native's adopted home.

Carter spent 19 years in prison for three murders at a tavern in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1966. He was convicted alongside Artis in 1967 and again in a new trial in 1976.

Carter was freed in November 1985 when his convictions were set aside after years of appeals and public advocacy. His ordeal and the alleged racial motivations behind it were publicized in Bob Dylan's 1975 song "Hurricane,'' several books and a 1999 film starring Denzel Washington, who received an Academy Award nomination for playing the boxer turned prisoner.

Carter's murder convictions abruptly ended the boxing career of a former petty criminal who became an undersized middleweight contender largely on ferocity and punching power.

Although never a world champion, Carter went 27-12-1 with 19 knockouts, memorably stopping two-division champ Emile Griffith in the first round in 1963. He also fought for a middleweight title in December 1964, losing a unanimous decision to Joey Giardello.

In June 1966, three white people were shot by two black men at the Lafayette Bar and Grill in Paterson. Carter and Artis were convicted by an all-white jury largely on the testimony of two thieves who later recanted their stories.

Carter was granted a new trial and briefly freed in 1976, but sent back for nine more years after being convicted in a second trial.

Thom Kidrin, who became friends with Carter after visiting him several times in prison, told The Associated Press the boxer "didn't have any bitterness or anger -- he kind of got above it all. That was his great strength.''

"I wouldn't give up,'' Carter said in an interview with PBS in 2011. "No matter that they sentenced me to three life terms in prison. I wouldn't give up. Just because a jury of 12 misinformed people ... found me guilty did not make me guilty. And because I was not guilty, I refused to act like a guilty person.''

Dylan became aware of Carter's plight after reading the boxer's autobiography. He met Carter and co-wrote "Hurricane,'' which he performed on his Rolling Thunder Revue tour in 1975. The song concludes: "That's the story of the Hurricane/But it won't be over till they clear his name/And give him back the time he's done/Put him in a prison cell but one time he could-a been/The champion of the world.''

Muhammad Ali also spoke out on Carter's behalf, while advertising art director George Lois and other celebrities also worked toward Carter's release.

With a network of friends and volunteers also advocating for him, Carter eventually won his release from U.S. District Judge H. Lee Sarokin, who wrote that Carter's prosecution had been "predicated upon an appeal to racism rather than reason, and concealment rather than disclosure.''

Born on May 6, 1937, into a family of seven children, Carter struggled with a hereditary speech impediment and was sent to a juvenile reform center at 12 after an assault. He escaped and joined the Army in 1954, experiencing racial segregation and learning to box while in West Germany.

Carter then committed a series of muggings after returning home, spending four years in various state prisons. He began his pro boxing career in 1961 after his release, winning 20 of his first 24 fights mostly by stoppage.

Carter was fairly short for a middleweight at 5-foot-8, but his aggression and high punch volume made him effective.

His shaved head and menacing glower gave him an imposing ring presence, but also contributed to a menacing aura outside the ring. He was also quoted as joking about killing police officers in a 1964 story in the Saturday Evening Post which was later cited by Carter as a cause of his troubles with police.

Carter boxed regularly on television at Madison Square Garden and overseas in London, Paris and Johannesburg. Although his career appeared to be on a downswing before he was implicated in the murders, Carter was hoping for a second middleweight title shot.

Carter and Artis were questioned after being spotted in the area of the murders in Carter's white car, which vaguely matched witnesses' descriptions. Both cited alibis and were released, but were arrested months later. A case relying largely on the testimony of thieves Alfred Bello and Arthur Bradley resulted in a conviction in June 1967.

Carter defied his prison guards from the first day of his incarceration, spending time in solitary confinement because of it.

"When I walked into prison, I refused to wear their stripes,'' Carter said. "I refused to eat their food. I refused to work their jobs, and I would have refused to breathe the prison's air if I could have done so.''

Carter eventually wrote and spoke eloquently about his plight, publishing his autobiography, "The Sixteenth Round,'' in 1974. Benefit concerts were held for his legal defense.

After his release, Carter moved to Toronto, where he served as the executive director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted from 1993 to 2005. He received two honorary doctorates for his work.

Director Norman Jewison made Carter's story into a well-reviewed biographical film, with Washington working closely alongside Carter to capture the boxer's transformation and redemption. Washington won a Golden Globe for the role.

"This man right here is love,'' Washington said while onstage with Carter at the Golden Globes ceremony in early 2000. "He's all love. He lost about 7,300 days of his life, and he's love. He's all love.''

On Sunday, when told of Carter's death, Washington said in a statement: "God bless Rubin Carter and his tireless fight to ensure justice for all.''

But the makers of "The Hurricane'' were widely criticized for factual inaccuracies and glossing over other parts of Carter's story, including his criminal past and a reputation for a violent temper. Giardello sued the film's producers for its depiction of a racist fix in his victory over Carter, who acknowledged Giardello deserved the win.

Carter's weight and activity dwindled during his final months, but he still advocated for prisoners he believed to be wrongfully convicted.

Carter wrote an opinion essay for the New York Daily News in February, arguing vehemently for the release of David McCallum, convicted of a kidnapping and murder in 1985. Carter also briefly mentioned his health, saying he was "quite literally on my deathbed.''

"Now I'm looking death straight in the eye,'' Carter wrote. "He's got me on the ropes, but I won't back down.''

Kidrin said Carter would be cremated, with some of the ashes given to his family. Two sisters are among Carter's survivors, though Kidrin said Carter was alienated from many relatives.

Kidrin planned to sprinkle Carter's remains in the ocean off Cape Cod, where they spent the last three summers together. Artis planned to bring some of the ashes to a horse farm in Kentucky the boxer loved.

Kidrin spoke with Carter on Wednesday.

"He said, 'You know, look, death's coming. I'm ready for it. But it's really going to have to take me because I'm positive to the end.'''
 

Source:  espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/10811853/boxer-rubin-carter-dies-76