We'll never forget July 24!

It was very early in the morning on Saturday, July 24, 2004. 

Scott Elliott couldn’t sleep any longer. Neither could I. We stood quietly sipping coffee in the lobby of the Holiday Inn, Jackson, Michigan. Scott was the founder and chair of the Citizens Committee for the Release of Maurice Carter. I was Maurice’s best friend, and had led the fight for his freedom since the mid-90s. 

Friday night had been festive in that Holiday Inn, as many supporters of Maurice, as well as family members, gathered over dinner, anxiously anticipating his release the following morning. 

Special friend Jerry Horne was up early, also, cleaning the windshield of his luxurious motor home that would serve as Maurice’s transportation to Spring Lake, and a public reception. Jerry and his wife Dee loved Maurice, and graciously donated the time and the vehicle for this special occasion. 

Later that morning, Maurice’s cousin Mary Armstrong and I would walk Maurice Carter out of Michigan’s prison hospital in Jackson and into freedom. Our son Matt, at that time a reporter for the Grand Haven Tribune, was there to cover the story. It was a double celebration for him, because this was all happening on his birthday! Matt’s photo was later used on the cover of my book telling the Maurice Carter story: Sweet Freedom. 

It was a celebrative, but solemn moment for me as I sipped coffee with Scott. It had been nearly a decade since I had met this indigent Black man from Gary, Indiana, who had already served 15 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. What a ride it had been! 

Maurice, an unknown Michigan prisoner, became an international celebrity in many ways…a voice and a face representing the wrongly convicted. When I became his partner, Maurice’s team doubled in size! Together, in years to follow, we mobilized an effort to free him that was probably unprecedented in the State of Michigan. Four Innocence Projects, led by the University of Wisconsin’s IP, took on the challenge! Media coverage and support extended outside the US border, to Canada and to the Netherlands. During that time, our friendship deepened and he and I became brothers. 

Yet, he was never exonerated. Ultimately, we were able to persuade Governor Granholm to grant a compassionate commutation of his sentence. Maurice had contracted Hepatitis C while in prison, something doctors never bothered to tell him. He died, at the age of 60, just three months later.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of that very special moment when he and I walked to Jerry and Dee's motor home. His 29-year period of incarceration was finally over. 

Thanks to an idea planted in my mind by Maurice, Humanity for Prisoners was formed, one of Michigan’s leading non-profits serving state prisoners. No wonder HFP has proclaimed today MAURICE CARTER DAY!

 

 

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