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CNN NEWSROOM
Anthony Ray Hinton Free From Alabama's Death Row After 30 Years; Tiger Woods Back In The Game. Aired 3:30-4p
Aired April 10, 2015 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:30:00] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: She needs to go in and fight for every vote and say look, I'm not taking this for granted. And she did, in a way, going in last time in 2007 her video said I'm in and in to win. That's not her message this time. I think a lot a lot of her advisors look at that and they kind of cringe that they let it go out the gate. So she doesn't want to do that. But at the same time, you know, you look at those polls that you just put up, there are some potential contenders. But right now she's miles ahead of them.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: OK. Happy trails to Iowa to both of you. Nice to see you (INAUDIBLE) again in CNN. My friend, Brianna Keilar, thank you very much.
Coming up next, storm chasers take us inside the heart of the tornado outbreak in Illinois. We will share this video from inside of these storms.
Also ahead, 30 years on death row. A man wrongly convicted gets his first taste of freedom. We'll talk to him live about that. Stay with me.
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[15:35:12] BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
We have to talk about this awful storms since the devastating series of storms of complete disruption of dozens of homes, the loss of life, two people are dead after swap of violent tornados rip through the Midwest and mostly through parts of northern Illinois. The power of these storms as you about to see is ferocious.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God. This is violent. Guy, it's right there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God. Oh my God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There goes cars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw headlights go flying. (Bleep.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's over. He's over. Call 911.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call 911.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And now the aftermath. Homes completely ripped from their foundations. And we have another photo I want to share with you. This is before and after here of a local landmark restaurant. About this diners actually hid in the cellar for at least 90 minutes until the storm passed. Thankfully they all survived.
My next guest sat on death row for almost 30 years for a crime he says he did not commit. Now he is out. He says first he had to remember how to use a fork because they didn't allow them in prison. He joins me live next. He'll walk us through what it was like those 30 years and what it's like to just walk freely today.
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[15:36:25] BALDWIN: Now to the story of Anthony Ray Hinton. He is 58 years of age. But in many ways he is new to the world, at least the one we all know now. Just last Friday, Hinton was released after 30 years on Alabama's death row.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Jesus. Thank you Lord.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those hugs went on for more than two minutes. Convicted of two murders in Birmingham in 1985, Hinton was freed after the judge granted the state's motion to drop the charges. Prosecutors finally acknowledged Hinton's gun did not match the bullets used in those killing. And now, Hinton must adjust to life in the 21st century.
Think about the last time Hinton was a free man. Ronald Reagan was president. "Back to the Future" led the box office, and a stamp cost 22 cents. Anthony Ray Hinton now joins me with the man who helped free him, attorney Brian Stephenson from the equal justice initiative.
Gentlemen, it's a pleasure and privilege. Welcome.
Ray, if you can hear me sir. I mean, you are since one week from being on death row. How does it feel to be free?
(INAUDIBLE)
BALDWIN: Forgive me sir - we got it. Sorry, I was sitting on pins of needle to talk to you. We were having a microphone issue. Forgive me.
Please start over. What does living as a free man feel like? ANTHONY RAY HINTON, FREED FROM PRISON AFTER 30 YEARS: It will take me
a little time to get used to it, but I have to pinch myself from time to time and remind myself.
BALDWIN: I apologize for interrupting. I just want to make sure this is crystal clear. I know a lot of people want to hear from you sir. Shall we go to break and fix it and come back, guys? Yes. We'll be right back.
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[15:46:09] BALDWIN: All right. Live TV. It happens. Let's try this again. I got Anthony Ray Hinton. He is with me. This is the free man who is fresh off death row after 30 years for a crime he didn't commit and the man that helped free him, Brian Stephenson from the equal justice initiative.
Fellow, thanks for your patience.
Ray, let's try this again. You're a free man one week. How does it feel?
HINTON: I feel wonderful. I have to pinch myself to tell myself I'm free, but I'm having a problem once it turn dark. I haven't been outside in the dark in 30 years, so I will be telling my friend it's time for us to get back in. He says you free, it's OK. But, it is going to take me little time, but I'm getting use to it. I like it.
BALDWIN: I bet you do like it, but that's incredible. So the notion of being in a five by seven cell for 30 years, you did. But darkness, what is it about darkness, do you think, that makes you afraid?
HINTON: Well, they don't let you be outside at a certain time in the penitentiary. Not only that, they have to so (INAUDIBLE). And you have bed check at 6:00. So, I'm kind of used to somebody coming to at 6:00 counting, making sure you're in your cell. So just -- when you been doing it 30 years and know the routine like I know it, it takes a while to get use to someone not coming through to count to make sure you're in your bed.
BALDWIN: So darkness, walking freely, I understand, speaking of routine, I mean, here you can order any food imaginable. I understand you're sticking with fried chicken which is something you could have had in prison.
HINTON: I prefer it out here. It's cooked better.
BALDWIN: I bet it taste a little sweeter, I imagine.
HINTON: It is. But I'm just so happy to be out. I'm so thankful to God for bringing me through it. I always said I'm thankful to Mr. Stephenson for sticking by me and working night and day, seven days a week, to secure my freedom because I shouldn't have ever been on death row in the first place.
BALDWIN: Mr. Stephenson, I have questions for you. But Ray, I just have to stick with you. I mean, I have a lot of questions - the big, the little, and the in between. And staying with the notion of meals, I mean, I was reading an interview in which you said you're having a tough time using something as simple as a fork. Can you explain why?
HINTON: Yes. Well, on death row they only give you plastic spoons. We don't have forks or silver spoons or anything like that. The reason they don't give us that is because you can sharpen them down and make a knife or shank. So, I'm just use to plastic spoons.
BALDWIN: I know that on death row -- I understand you did see a lot of death with your own eyes, people taking their own lives instead of ultimately what would be happening to them.
HINTON: Yes.
BALDWIN: Did you ever come close to, sir, a breaking point?
HINTON: No, I didn't come close to a breaking point. But I'd be lying to you if I told you that Satan didn't tell me to kill myself. I think every man on death row at some point in time, Satan will creep on you and say (INAUDIBLE) they're going to kill you. Don't give them the satisfaction. Go on and do it yourself. And I would immediately tell Satan, get the behind me. And go to my, as I call it my happy moment, which was my sense of humor. And so, I feel like Satan was laughing at me sometimes. I had the sense of humor to do that.
[15:50:03] BALDWIN: How did you manage a sense of humor, sir, on death row?
HINTON: To be honest with you, I had no choice. It was something that I was born with but I never thought it would come in handy in the sense that I had to use it. Being on death row, we had to use it every day. At least I did. I used it, most people think I was trying to make them laugh, which I was, but I was trying to escape reality for being on death row. It's extra hard to be on death row for something that you didn't do.
BALDWIN: I cannot begin to imagine. So you have this sense of humor. But also, Ray, talk to me about the saddest day of your life in 2002 when you learned that your mother had passed. Can you tell me about that?
HINTON: Yes. We had a captain by the name of captain Kraft. He sent for me. I didn't think nothing of it. The fact that they were sending for me. He called me down there and told me that he had received a phone call that my mother had passed, and I just broke down in front of the shift officer and cried. And he told me if there's anything he can do, just let him know.
When you lose your mother, someone that was there for you from birth, and you have all these mothers having their children and not taking care of them, my mother was just the opposite. My mother made sure I had food, made sure I had clothes, made sure that I had a place to lay my head, and she just went out of her way to make sure that not just me but all her kids was brought up proper, and she did the best she could. And for me to be on death row for something I didn't do and not be
there for her, when I felt she need me the most, I can't sit here and tell you how that feeling was then. I was just sad, lonely, I felt helpless, I felt that I had let her down.
And me and my mother had a relationship like no other. I could tell her anything. We would sit on the porch and laugh and I was referred to her no matter who she introduced me to, she always said this is my baby. And it just meant a lot to me that I had to go to the graveyard to say good-bye to my mother, because I wasn't allowed to go to the funeral or the funeral home and see my mother. I never did get a chance to see my mother. And I would have just loved to have been able to say -- tell her how much I loved her over the years which I did, sometimes through the telephone, but when she got in bad health, I knew she was sick because she stopped coming to the prison to see me. But I didn't know that it was that severe.
So I just had a bad, rough time. You don't never get over it, but I knew she wouldn't want me to just sit there and mope and groan and complain. So that's when my sense of humor kicked in and I never looked back. I cried many nights since she passed. I'm trying to be strong as I talk to you now and not cry. But every time someone mentions my mother I want to cry because I had an extraordinary mother. I wouldn't trade my mother for all the money in the world.
BALDWIN: That's wonderful. That is so wonderful. Forgive me for interjecting but I am so sorry for the passing of your mother and I love hearing such loving words as you're describing her. And I can't help as I'm hearing this and I'm sad for you that you could not say good-bye.
And I'm wondering to you, Brian Stephenson, as I'm hearing this man speak, why? I'm stuck on the why. Let me say this. CNN has reached out multiple times to get a comment from the D.A.'s office, Jefferson County district attorney's office but so far, no response. My question to you being apparently all that had to be done to set Ray free was test the gun. And this would have been over. It still took this ballistic test, took 12 years to free this man you are sitting next to. Tell me why.
BRIAN STEPHENSON, ATTORNEY: You know, this case is a really powerful demonstration of the problem which is that we have a system that treats you better if you are rich and guilty than if you are poor and innocent. And it is shameful. I have never had a case where the evidence of innocence is so clear and so immediate and so accessible and not been able to get the state to do the simple thing they have to do to access that evidence.
We begged them for years to just simply do the test and they would rather risk executing an innocent person than risk the perception that somehow they're not tough on crime or that they're not -- they're being too responsive to the needs of a person. And it's the indifference of these officials that I think is the most shameful part of this case. We really don't have the kind of accountability that we need to have from our elected officials who run the criminal justice system. In Mr. Hinton's case, it's a tragic example of that. [15:55:16] BALDWIN: Mr. Hinton, just final question. I know you said
your 20s were robbed from you and your 30s and your 40s and here you are, you are out and free. Who do you want to be these remaining decades of your life and what's the one place you want to go?
HINTON: Believe it or not, I want to go to Yankee stadium and sit and eat me one of those expensive hot dogs that I seen on TV and root for the Yankees. But the other part of course, what I want to be, I want to be a light for those that is in darkness. I want to be an example that you don't have to treat people worse or bad because they did something to you. I want to learn people to forgive and pray for them. I use the word candidly. They despise for used me as an example of bigotry, as an example I'm mighty, I answer to no one.
Like I said, you're going to answer to God and I guarantee you, you isn't going to like the result. And my hand will be clean and when I leave this interview tonight, as I have since I got out, I will pray for those that are still living, I will ask god to continue to bless them and when his day comes for him to judge them, I assure you they will be judged fairly.
BALDWIN: Ray Hinton, now a free man. Would you believe I am heading to Yankee stadium tonight to watch the game against the Red Sox. I will order that hot dog in your honor, sir, and I will see what I can do to get you to Yankee stadium. All right?
Ray Hinton and Brian Stephenson, thank you both so much.
HINTON: Thank you for having me.
STEPHENSON: Bye-bye.
BALDWIN: Turning now, round two of the masters is under way. All eyes are on Tiger Woods. The four-time Masters winner is back on the green after a long break because of health reasons. The question, will the youngest player ever to win the masters make the cut this year? CNN's sports Rachel Nichols is in Augusta. How is he doing after this mega (INAUDIBLE)?
RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, he just came in a few minutes ago and he had a good day, three under for the day, shot a 69. That puts him two under for the tournament which means golf fans get to see Tiger Woods this weekend. He will make the cut.
But Tiger fans want to know when is he going to win a major again? I sat down with Arnold Palmer this week and we talked about that and a lot more. Take a listen.
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NICHOLS: It has been ten years since we saw Tiger win at Augusta. The question about whether he will ever pass Jack Nicklaus and his record of majors has been asked pretty much through most of Tiger's career. And the answer has changed off and on as he goes through his struggles. What do you feel right now whether he will be able to hit that mark or pass it? ARNOLD PALMER, MASTERS CHAMPION: Well, I think it is going to be
tough. It wouldn't be tough if he had been very top of his game and nothing like this had ever happened to him. But I give him a chance. But I also say that every day that passes it becomes more difficult.
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NICHOLS: And it looks like it is going to become more difficult at this tournament with the way that another American, 21-year-old Jordan Spieth, is burning up the grass out here. He just set a record today for the lowest 36 holes ever at this tournament. He's 21 years old. Fortunately, if he does end up winning on Sunday, he will be able to drink, but you know, little champagne, that kind of thing. But it will be a crowning of really a new force in golf. It will be nice. So it will be interesting to follow his progress throughout the weekend. Interesting to follow Tiger. We will get to see them both over the next few days.
BALDWIN: I like it. I have 30 more seconds with you, Ms. Nichols. Tell me what else you're watching. What else gets you excited in Augusta?
NICHOLS: Well, we are excited about the special we have at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon. We have Arnold Palmer. He will tell us how he invented the Arnold Palmer, that iced tea lemonade drink. Also, defending champion Bubba Watson sits down with us to tell us how he got the General Lee. He owns the General Lee. Come on. And also, how he learned to be a champion by winning here at Augusta. Great contents and great stuff. We will follow all the winners, all the leaders and will you bring you a really good special tomorrow afternoon here from Augusta national.
BALDWIN: Awesome. Rachel Nichols, my friend, thank you very, very much. And again, Rachel's special tomorrow, 2:30 p.m. eastern right here on CNN.
And that will do it for me here. I'm Brooke Baldwin live in New York. Thank you so much for being with me here on this Friday. Have wonderful weekends, but don't move. Stay with CNN. We are going to go to Washington now. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.
