Maurice H. Carter March 29, 1944 - October 25, 2004

This was a rotten weekend 17 years ago! 

If you check the calendar, you’ll find that the 2004 and 2021 dates are identical. 

On Friday, October 22, 2004, my pal Maurice Carter was in the hospital. Up until then, we had hope that Maurice could still get a new liver...his only hope for survival. But on that fateful weekend, all hope dissipated. 

I went to visit him at Butterworth in Grand Rapids...unconscious, no response. 

I returned on Saturday the 23rd, only to be advised that I would have to wear protective gear. He had gone “full code.” Everything had shut down and he was in a coma. It was the beginning of the end. 

He died in the early morning hours of October 25. 

Maurice would have enjoyed our 20th Anniversary Observance of HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS a few days ago. After all, the whole organization was formed as a result of his dream. 

For those who haven’t read the story, Maurice spent 29 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. In the years that I spent with him in his battle for freedom, Maurice would often say, “When my case came up, the wheels of justice ground to a halt!” 

Well, 17 years later, I’m surprised to report that the wheels have started rolling. Granted, the pace is slow, but they are rolling here in Michigan. And it’s due, in part, to these three words: Conviction Integrity Unit. 

Maurice had little regard for prosecutors, for very good reason, and he and I were pretty much in agreement on the matter. Now comes the CIU, and I’m grudgingly admitting that, yes, some prosecutors are making a difference! 

A Conviction Integrity Unit is a division of a prosecutorial office that works to prevent, identify, and remedy false convictions. Several of these units have accomplished a great deal in a short period of time. Wayne County had the first one in Michigan, I believe...it was started in 2018. The Michigan Attorney General formed such a unit in 2019. Now the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners has given preliminary approval for a CIU. 

I’m not ready to predict that this trend will produce a change in the way prosecutors think or operate, but these are major steps forward! Maurice would be impressed. 

Toronto attorney Phil Campbell, in a note to me upon Maurice’s passing, said, “...when you met him he was reviled as a dangerous criminal; he died a symbol of innocence.” 

As we warmly remember our friend Maurice Carter today, let’s pray that the wheels of justice roll faster and faster to reduce these shameful stories of wrongful conviction.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Half-a-race!

The HFP Drag-Racing Fund-Raiser had the potential of being extremely successful, and could have raised several thousand dollars. Let's just say it was partly successful. For background purposes I'll explain that I was racing a 1963 supercharged Studebaker Lark that has a reputation of being one of the fastest stock Studebakers in drag racing today. The engine was built by one of the finest Studebaker engine mechanics in the country, and the car many times has achieved quarter-mile runs in less than 14 seconds! We promised to make at least ten passes in the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drags at Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, Michigan, this past weekend, and we asked for pledges ONLY ON THOSE RUNS REACHED IN LESS THAN 14 SECONDS. On Friday, here's how we fared: Run #1 13.936 @ 101.24 mph Run #2 14.027 @ 101.30 mph Run #3 14.091 @ 100.88 mph Run #4 13.805 @ 102.84 mph Run #5 14.058 @ 101.26 mph By the 5th run we discovered that ...
Read more

Gregory John McCormick: 1964-2008

Itchy is dead. The lifeless body of this talented rock musician, whose band Shock Therapy was a popular group especially in Europe, was found in a field in Detroit last Wednesday, November 5. The Wayne County Coroner's office informed father Glenn McCormick that the body of his son Gregory, better known to all of us as Itchy, bore no signs of trauma. Glenn said that Itchy, who had been living at his father's dental lab in Detroit, had been drinking to excess for some time. While the toxicology report has not been released yet, the general consensus seems to be that he drank himself to death. Our agency, while still named INNOCENT, first got involved with Itchy in 2005. The Detroit native, who called Germany his home, got involved in some unfortunate activity that placed him in the Michigan State prison system on a charge of arson of a dwelling. It was really just a bonfire in an alley, but an alleged parole violation placed him in prison for 1-20 years. I personally sat w...
Read more

Three lives, connected by a divine thread

My kids say it should be a book! The Doug, Pat and Mark story is a doozie!   About 25 years ago, while fighting to free Maurice Carter from prison, I read a newspaper column written by Pat Shellenbarger of the Grand Rapids Press on the topic of eyewitness identification. I contacted Pat re that story. That led to a friendship between Doug and Pat that continues to this day.   In subsequent months, Pat would go on to assist me in an investigation into the Maurice Carter case that eventually led to solving the crime.  That particular episode became a chapter in my book about the Carter case, SWEET FREEDOM, published in 2006.   Fast forward to 2009, A New York businessman claims wrongful conviction, and while serving time in a Michigan prison is handed a copy of my book. Mark Hartman, who was also convicted in Berrien County, was amazed at the similarity of these two stories and tried to reach out to me. His letters bounced.   Persisting in his efforts to c...
Read more