When the wheels of justice ground to a halt

On Maurice Carter day, this story is worth repeating.

Maurice Carter was not exaggerating when he complained about the lack of justice in his case. An off-duty white police officer was shot and injured in what may have been a hold-up attempt during the Christmas shopping season in Benton Harbor. That was back in the 1970s.

Two years later, based on the testimony of a jail-house snitch, Maurice was arrested in his hometown of Gary, Indiana. It was 29 years later before he ever took a breath in free society again! 

Talk about “grinding to a halt,” consider these points. 

-No one, not even the police officer and his wife, identified Maurice from the police department lineup photos until 2 years later, after his photo accompanied the news of his arrest in the Benton Harbor newspaper. 

-The only real witness to the crime, the store clerk, insisted that police arrested the wrong man. The shooter, she said, was “African black,” and Maurice was lighter-skinned. When asked if she could identify the shooter in the courtroom, she said NO! 

-The witness whom the jury actually believed, called by the prosecutor, heard the shot fired from an office building a half-block away. As she looked out the window, she claimed to have seen “the shadow of a Black man” running from the scene of the crime. 

-Maurice’s court-appointed attorney never met with him until the morning of the trial. 

-The prosecution was unable to establish a motive, produce fingerprints, or find a weapon. 

-The jail-house snitch who claimed Maurice had confided details of his guilt while in jail actually recanted during the trial. He was then arrested for perjury. Yet, after admitting the story was a lie, the state continued the Carter prosecution! 

-The guilty verdict was reached within hours by an all-white jury. The prosecutor was white, the court-appointed defense attorney was white, the only prosecution witness was white, and the judge was white. 

-The white police officer who had been injured in the crime was later hired to be an investigator for the Berrien County Prosecutor’s Office. 

-The white woman who saw the shadow of a Black man was later hired for clerical work in the Prosecutor’s Office. 

-Even though he eventually became eligible for parole from his life sentence for assault with intent, he didn’t stand a chance. At that time, the judge or his successor, could veto a parole recommendation. But, it never would have reached that point. In that the victim was now working for the Prosecutor’s Office, a letter of opposition would strongly oppose Carter’s release. AND, the chairman of the Michigan Parole Board at that time was a former Berrien County Sheriff! 

Freedom for Maurice Carter only came when Governor Granholm granted a compassionate release to Maurice Carter because he was dying. He had contracted Hepatitis C 8 years earlier while in prison, according to medical records, but he was never told…nor was he treated. 

He lived for 3 months upon his release July 24, 2004! 

The wheels of justice didn’t just grind to a halt. They fell off!