Hurricane Carter revisited

[HALL85]

New release of book written by late Paterson Detective who led investigation and conviction of Hurricane Carter and John Artis for triple murders in Paterson back in 1966. Great read.

Amazon product ASIN B07QP32FCD

 

[Pirata]

Years ago I watched the movie and then afterwards researched the case, reading as much as I could find online.

It was clear that the depiction in the movie was not the same as what I read as the facts of the case.

It was clear how the combination of the Bob Dylan song and the depiction in the movie would sway people's view of what happened that night.

it's one of those cases where it was circumstantial evidence and there was no clear cut eyewitness of the killings.

The movie took a few liberties. The most egregious was a depiction of DeSimone as a racist cop who had it out for Carter.

Hollywood said that they created a blended character which wasn't actually DeSimone but was a collection of three or four individuals that represented the lifelong oppression of Carter.

My impression of DeSimone was that he was a classic shoe leather detective who did his job with integrity.

The only part of the Dylan song that I agree with are the lyrics set says that "he could have been the champion of the world". I don't agree with any inference that the reason he wasn't was DeSimone.

 

[HALL85]

There was a long time poster on this board who passed away several years ago (And his screen name escapes me). His first name was Jack and coincidentally he was married to Detective DeSimone’s daughter. I believe he also worked in the Passaic County prosecutors office for a period of time. Would have love to have heard his perspective on the book because he lived through it.

 

[donnie_baseball]

https://www.nj.com/opinion/2014/04/spare_us_the_lies_about_the_late_hurricane_carter_mulshine.html

 

[batts]

I read somewhere that the police found shotgun shells and the same size caliber bullets that killed the victims in Carter's car a few hours after the incident. That's pretty strong circumstantial evidence, certainly strong enough to support a murder conviction.

 

[Pirata]

The murder weapons were a shotgun and a 32 caliber pistol.

They found a shotgun shell and a 32cal bullet in the car.

Defence argued that they were not the exact same as the shells found at the scene.

Prosecution argued the shells in the car were compatible with the weapons and it is not for people to have different varieties of ammunition.

 

[HALL85]

The evidence was overwhelming and was able to convict them twice, and fell into four general categories:

- Four corroborating witnesses that described the same thing that they witnessed (two black men leaving the bar and driving away in a white car with specific tail lights that matched the car Carter and Artis were stopped near the bar.
- The shells in the trunk that matched the caliber of the shot gun and pistol.
- Carter and Artis' alibi's which didn't come close to matching...tmes, locations, etc. the night of the murders.
- Witnesses that Carter and Artis produced to support their alibi's who all later recanted and admitted that they lied to help them.

 

[donnie_baseball]

Carter fooled a lot of people, including Bob Dylan and a cadre of celebrities, who got behind him and raised a lot of money for him. Not the first time, and certainly not the last, that Hollywood put it's money on the wrong horse. My rule of thumb is this: if the celebrities are on one side of an issue, I'm probably on the other.

 

[rcodey]

In the mid 1970 Gov. Byrne ordered an investigation of the Carter case . A fellow Investigator from the Essex County Prosecutor's Office was assigned to the investigation along with an attorney from East Orange . After the investigation the Investigator told me there was no doubt that Carter and Artis were guilty .

 

[HALL85]

Carter fooled a lot of people, including Bob Dylan and a cadre of celebrities, who got behind him and raised a lot of money for him. Not the first time, and certainly not the last, that Hollywood put it's money on the wrong horse. My rule of thumb is this: if the celebrities are on one side of an issue, I'm probably on the other.

The list of celebrities (and non-NJ politicians) was ridiculously long and I had forgotten how many of them made the trips to Trenton, Newark and Paterson. Dylan, Ali, Frazier, Joan Baez, Candice Bergen, Roberta Flack. Ed Koch actually was instrumental in trying to get him pardoned and supporting the whole celebrity onslaught and John Conyers jumped on the bandwagon as well.

Once Carter was released in advance of the second trial, they all disappeared after he beat Carolyn Kelley into a pulp...1966 version of the MeToo movement, but it was silent....rats jumping off the ship in the middle of the night.

Two footnotes. 1-Over $600k that was raised by the concert and other means, Mysteriously disappeared. Carters attorneys actually had to apply to the state to get reimbursed under the indigent representation statute. 2- The night before the MSG concert, Bob Dylan and the rolling thunder review and did a concert at the Clinton correctional facility where Carter was being held. I guarantee that was his only concert ever in Hunterdon county… LOL

 

[HALL85]

Front page from the Bergen Record this week...

https://www.northjersey.com/story/n...murder-case-53-years-later-memoir/1411490001/

 

[GymRat]

Carolyn kelly was victimized by carter in the most brutal and horrific manner possible. That is why the celebrities disappeared. Carter killed the cops and nearly killed her. The public has never been told the extent to which she was brutalized..
Carter is dead and I leave him to God's justice.
The movie was a total myth.