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| Capital punishment is murder – especially for the wrongfully accused | Capital punishment is murder – especially for the wrongfully accused |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| So far this year, 23 death row inmates have been executed in the US. One was killed by electrocution, the others by lethal injection. A 24th committed suicide. Among these prisoners, they served a total of 335 years as they were waiting to die. And there are 14 more Americans slated for execution by their government before the end of the year. | So far this year, 23 death row inmates have been executed in the US. One was killed by electrocution, the others by lethal injection. A 24th committed suicide. Among these prisoners, they served a total of 335 years as they were waiting to die. And there are 14 more Americans slated for execution by their government before the end of the year. |
| We're told to believe they were guilty – of murder. What if they weren't? In fact, what if they were the victims – of prejudice, racism, corruption? | We're told to believe they were guilty – of murder. What if they weren't? In fact, what if they were the victims – of prejudice, racism, corruption? |
| In 1976, Shujaa Graham was one of them – wrongly sentenced to die and shipped to San Quentin prison in California. | |
| Recently, the 62-year-old death row exoneree invited me into the sunroom in the back of his Takoma Park, Maryland, home. It's a space only slightly larger than the prison cell in which he spent more than a decade, but he said he feels oddly at home there. That's where he opened up about his own death sentence – one meant to be carried out in a gas chamber. | Recently, the 62-year-old death row exoneree invited me into the sunroom in the back of his Takoma Park, Maryland, home. It's a space only slightly larger than the prison cell in which he spent more than a decade, but he said he feels oddly at home there. That's where he opened up about his own death sentence – one meant to be carried out in a gas chamber. |
| I visited Graham to film a short documentary about his childhood in the racially segregated South, his adolescence in gangs in South Central Los Angeles – and in juvenile detention – and, ultimately, his young adulthood on San Quentin's death row where he served three years until a jury exonerated him in the murder of white California prison guard Jerry Sanders. Graham said he still dwells on it 40 years later. But despite his troubled past – or perhaps in spite of it – he has maintained character and appreciation for his life. | I visited Graham to film a short documentary about his childhood in the racially segregated South, his adolescence in gangs in South Central Los Angeles – and in juvenile detention – and, ultimately, his young adulthood on San Quentin's death row where he served three years until a jury exonerated him in the murder of white California prison guard Jerry Sanders. Graham said he still dwells on it 40 years later. But despite his troubled past – or perhaps in spite of it – he has maintained character and appreciation for his life. |
| I saw it almost immediately – when he shot me a wry smile, winked and gave his demand: "You're at PawPaw's house. Either make yourself at home or keep that camera in its bag." | I saw it almost immediately – when he shot me a wry smile, winked and gave his demand: "You're at PawPaw's house. Either make yourself at home or keep that camera in its bag." |
| I felt like family the rest of that afternoon, listening to his stories of political outrage. And in that moment, I thought about how unfair life would have been if this man's wrongful conviction hadn't been overturned and his life had ended there. | I felt like family the rest of that afternoon, listening to his stories of political outrage. And in that moment, I thought about how unfair life would have been if this man's wrongful conviction hadn't been overturned and his life had ended there. |
| It's chilling to think how many innocents may have lost their lives at the hands of the US criminal justice system since 1976 – when capital punishment was reinstated. Worse, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, there's no way to calculate how many were executed for crimes they didn't commit since courts typically won't consider claims of innocence when a defendant is dead. But with more than 250 death row inmates exonerated with DNA evidence, it's impossible to not think about the others who fell through the cracks – especially when looking at a man who almost did. | It's chilling to think how many innocents may have lost their lives at the hands of the US criminal justice system since 1976 – when capital punishment was reinstated. Worse, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, there's no way to calculate how many were executed for crimes they didn't commit since courts typically won't consider claims of innocence when a defendant is dead. But with more than 250 death row inmates exonerated with DNA evidence, it's impossible to not think about the others who fell through the cracks – especially when looking at a man who almost did. |
| In many ways, Graham's life mirrors America's civil rights movement. Graham grew up on a Southern plantation where his family worked as sharecroppers. In 1961, they moved to South Central Los Angeles to establish a better life and "that's where my trouble began", he said. As a teenager, Graham got caught up in gangs. He committed minor crimes. He spent much of his adolescence in juvenile institutions. And when he was 18, he went to Soledad Prison on a minor robbery charge. | In many ways, Graham's life mirrors America's civil rights movement. Graham grew up on a Southern plantation where his family worked as sharecroppers. In 1961, they moved to South Central Los Angeles to establish a better life and "that's where my trouble began", he said. As a teenager, Graham got caught up in gangs. He committed minor crimes. He spent much of his adolescence in juvenile institutions. And when he was 18, he went to Soledad Prison on a minor robbery charge. |
| Graham turned away from the gang life when he became influenced by the Black Panther Party in prison and he took a leadership position in the black prison movement, working for prisoners' rights. Because of his leadership, he said, he was framed in the 1973 murder of a prison guard while serving out his sentence at the Deul Vocational Institute in Stockton, California. | Graham turned away from the gang life when he became influenced by the Black Panther Party in prison and he took a leadership position in the black prison movement, working for prisoners' rights. Because of his leadership, he said, he was framed in the 1973 murder of a prison guard while serving out his sentence at the Deul Vocational Institute in Stockton, California. |
| During Graham's second trial in 1976, he and his co-defendant, Eugene Allen, also an African-American, were charged with murder and sent to San Quentin's death house. It would take two more (all-white) trials and five more years before Graham would be freed, he said. | During Graham's second trial in 1976, he and his co-defendant, Eugene Allen, also an African-American, were charged with murder and sent to San Quentin's death house. It would take two more (all-white) trials and five more years before Graham would be freed, he said. |
| That was the story I expected to hear – one of a defunct criminal justice system, political corruption and racial bias. But ironically, Graham's story reveals his progressive attitudes against stereotypical 1970s America. Pacing back and forth in his sunroom, he clutched a picture of those who worked on his defense committee around the time of his third trial in 1979. Among his supporters was 30-year-old Phyllis Prentice – who stuck around. | That was the story I expected to hear – one of a defunct criminal justice system, political corruption and racial bias. But ironically, Graham's story reveals his progressive attitudes against stereotypical 1970s America. Pacing back and forth in his sunroom, he clutched a picture of those who worked on his defense committee around the time of his third trial in 1979. Among his supporters was 30-year-old Phyllis Prentice – who stuck around. |
| Prentice, now 64, was a nurse in the county jail where Graham was being held while he awaited trial. "I thought she was a cop", he said, "because she was so nice to me – and white." But, on the heels of desegregation, Prentice, a political activist, and Graham, an African-American political prisoner, became friends. She quit her job and joined his defense committee. And when Graham was finally exonerated and released in 1981, they started a life together. | Prentice, now 64, was a nurse in the county jail where Graham was being held while he awaited trial. "I thought she was a cop", he said, "because she was so nice to me – and white." But, on the heels of desegregation, Prentice, a political activist, and Graham, an African-American political prisoner, became friends. She quit her job and joined his defense committee. And when Graham was finally exonerated and released in 1981, they started a life together. |
| Now, their home is filled with photographs of their three children and four grandchildren – perhaps another testament to Graham's willingness to break social and political barriers. | Now, their home is filled with photographs of their three children and four grandchildren – perhaps another testament to Graham's willingness to break social and political barriers. |
| Prentice is still a nurse – a palliative care nurse. Graham has a landscaping business. But listening to their story, it's clear their passion still lies in the political work they started back in the 1970s. They are both on the board of Witness to Innocence, an organization dedicated to empowering exonerated death row survivors like Graham, who is vice chair. Graham still travels and speaks out against issues of capital punishment, wrongful convictions and inhumane prison conditions, much like the ones he has lived through. | Prentice is still a nurse – a palliative care nurse. Graham has a landscaping business. But listening to their story, it's clear their passion still lies in the political work they started back in the 1970s. They are both on the board of Witness to Innocence, an organization dedicated to empowering exonerated death row survivors like Graham, who is vice chair. Graham still travels and speaks out against issues of capital punishment, wrongful convictions and inhumane prison conditions, much like the ones he has lived through. |
| Graham's experience will forever be part of his history but, after I met him, I realized that his real story lies within the life he built because of – or maybe even in spite of – his past. | Graham's experience will forever be part of his history but, after I met him, I realized that his real story lies within the life he built because of – or maybe even in spite of – his past. |
| I sat in the sunroom staring at Graham through a camera lens. That's when he said something I'll never forget: | I sat in the sunroom staring at Graham through a camera lens. That's when he said something I'll never forget: |
| I know why you're here. Perhaps if I'd never been on death row, you wouldn't be here today talking to me. That reminds me I should be looking at this as a great thing – and it is – to get the chance to pass on my experience and hope that you'll take it to another level. I promised the prisoners I would fight until the day I die. | I know why you're here. Perhaps if I'd never been on death row, you wouldn't be here today talking to me. That reminds me I should be looking at this as a great thing – and it is – to get the chance to pass on my experience and hope that you'll take it to another level. I promised the prisoners I would fight until the day I die. |