, an intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled pris­on­er whose con­vic­tion and death sen­tence was over­turned in 1980, was freed from prison in Texas on June 12, 2017, hav­ing spent 35 years in jail with­out a valid con­vic­tion and with­out being retried. Hartfield, whose IQ is in the 50s or 60s, was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in 1977 on charges that he had mur­dered a bus sta­tion work­er. Hartfield con­fessed to the crime, but has long assert­ed his inno­cence and that his con­fes­sion was coerced. In 1980, he was grant­ed a new tri­al because a prospec­tive juror had been improp­er­ly exclud­ed over reser­va­tions about the death penal­ty. Prosecutors tried for three years to change Hartfield’s sen­tence to life with­out parole, includ­ing seek­ing a com­mu­ta­tion from Governor Mark White, but in 1983 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals again direct­ed that Hartfield be retried. Soon after, Governor White issued an order to com­mute Hartfield’s sen­tence to life in prison. Prosecutors and the gov­er­nor’s staff assumed that end­ed the lit­i­ga­tion in Hartfield’s case, while the courts assumed pros­e­cu­tors were mov­ing for­ward to com­ply with the sec­ond retri­al order. Hartfield’s attor­ney decid­ed not to push for a retri­al. For 23 years, Hartfield wait­ed, until in 2006, he tried to find out what was hap­pen­ing in his case. Another pris­on­er, Kevin Althouse, helped Hartfield write requests to state judges, but they were all sum­mar­i­ly reject­ed. Finally, a fed­er­al judge grant­ed Hartfield’s request for a lawyer, who ruled that Hartfield was being held with­out a valid con­vic­tion, and that because there was no con­vic­tion, the gov­er­nor’s attempt­ed com­mu­ta­tion was inef­fec­tu­al. The case bounced between fed­er­al and state courts until a judge ordered a retri­al in 2013. By the time the retri­al final­ly took place in 2015, two key wit­ness­es had died, all of the phys­i­cal evi­dence had been lost or destroyed, and most of Hartfield’s fam­i­ly mem­bers who could have offered mit­i­ga­tion tes­ti­mo­ny had died. Hartfield was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to life in prison. On appeal, Hartfield’s lawyers argued that his con­sti­tu­tion­al right to a speedy tri­al had been vio­lat­ed. An appeals court agreed, and ordered him released. Hartfield told The Marshall Project, ​“I am not bit­ter. I am not angry. [The pros­e­cu­tors] were only doing their jobs, and I respect them for that.”

(A. Cohen, ​“The Man Who Spent 35 Years in Prison Without a Trial,” The Marshall Project, June 12, 2017; The Takeaway, ​“Released From Prison Decades After a Retrial That Never Came,” WNYC, June 13, 2017). See Arbitrariness.

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