The Maurice Carter story retold. And how!

Maurice Carter wouldn’t believe it. His story goes on! 

It was back in the mid-1990s that I made the decision to assist a Michigan prisoner named Maurice Carter, who claimed he was innocent. Maurice was introduced to me by another inmate who also claimed wrongful conviction. I was selling church organs at the time, so I was on the road a lot. This enabled me to stop by a state prison from time to time to visit my new friend. 

I’ve told this story so many times, I’ll keep it short. It didn’t take long for Maurice to convince me that there was a major injustice here. A Black man from Gary, Indiana, with almost no family support, absolutely no financial support, and whose claims of wrongful conviction kept falling on deaf ears, finally had a helper. Maurice and Doug. His team had doubled! 

The story of our history-making fight for his freedom over the next nine years resulted in a book: Sweet Freedom. Then it was told in a stage play: Justice for Maurice Henry Carter. Now, all these years later, it appears in video form. Award-winning filmmaker Nathan Roels of Grand Rapids has outdone himself with a powerful 45-minute documentary titled: Wronged---The Maurice Carter Story. 

Maurice died exactly 20 years ago, 3 months after stepping into freedom thanks to our efforts seeking the governor’s compassionate release. He had contracted Hepatitis C while in prison, and his exit from the prison hospital was too late for a liver transplant. 

BUT, on this 20th anniversary of his walk into the free world, and his death in a Grand Rapids hospital, we’re excited to report that the story lives on, and that this is much more than just a shameful account of wrongful conviction. 

-Amazing friendship---a tale of two men, one Black and one white, with diverse backgrounds, who came to call each other “brother!”

-Renewed faith---how the faith of a lonely prisoner who felt abandoned was renewed by this friendship!

-Birth of HFP---how this story led to the formation of an agency now helping thousands of Michigan prisoners with their everyday issues of incarceration! 

For those living in this area, I hope you can join us for the first public showing, coming up on September 26. Details are available on the HFP website. 

For those who are outside of our area, or who cannot attend for other reasons, our office wants you to know that the film can be shown in your church, classroom, committee meeting or service club. Contact HFP at this telephone number: 616 935 0075. 

It’s a story you’ll want to see and hear again…it’s a story you’ll want your friends to see and hear! 

Wrongful convictions are not just an injustice to the innocent, but a failure of society.

The Innocent Man

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