Ruben "Harricane" Carter, afro-americano, nascido em 1937 e ainda vivo, foi um pugilista de pesos médios entre 1961 e 1966. No entanto, tornou-se mais conhecido pela sua luta contra a condenação de prisão perpétua a que foi sujeito pela morte de 3 pessoas em New Jersey.
Dois afro-americanos, em Junho de 1966, entraram num bar e mataram 3 pessoas. Ruben Carter e um amigo, Artis, foram acusados desses crimes. No dia seguinte ao homicídios, foram sujeitos ao teste do polígrafo - embora sendo uma ferramenta não aceite como prova - e a sua inocência foi reconhecida, tendo sido soltos nesse mesmo dia.
Poucos dias depois, testemunhas afirmaram ter visto Ruben Carter e seu amigo assaltando o bar, pelo que foi novamente preso, levado a tribunal e condenado a 3 prisões perpétuas, tantas quantas os assassínios verificados.
Ruben Carter e Artis ficaram presos durante vinte anos, após dois julgamentos e correspondentes recursos. Amigos, que se interessaram por este caso e acreditavam na sua inocência, fizeram suas próprias investigações tendo encontrado novas provas e irregularidades nos julgamentos anteriores, principalmente baseados em descriminação racial.
Foi então apresentado novo recurso, em 1985, desta vez ao Tribunal Federal, e declarada a sua inocência, assim como a do seu amigo, Artis.
Foi homenageado, posteriormente, com o cinturão de campeão mundial de pesos médios, como reconhecimento pela sua luta pela justiça e liberdade.
Esta é a história verídica que vi num filme no canal Hollywood e que havia passado em Portugal em 2000, chamado "Hurricane", realizado por Norman Jewison, tendo como papel principal Denzel Washington.
Porque falo desta história e filme aqui? Porque me recordei de um post que fiz há algum tempo - Innocense Project - sobre a pena de morte.
Se o que então se passou tivesse sido no estado do Texas (estado que tem o triste recorde de execuções, cêrca de 500, nos últimos anos), de certeza que a condenação teria sido a pena de morte e, muito provavelmente, nunca se teria vindo a apurar a verdade. E mais um inocente teria sido morto, como por certo, tantos o têm sido.
No estado de New Jersey, a pena capital foi reinstaurada desde 1982 mas desde 1976 que ninguém foi executado, principalmente por o Governador do Estado ser contra a pena capital. Existem 13 pessoas no corredor da morte em sucessivos recursos e apelos mas nada está resolvido até ao momento.
Este caso foi de tal forma conhecido que levou Bob Dylan a compôr uma das suas mais conhecidas músicas, Hurricane, dedicado a este caso.
Three bodies lyin' there does Patty see
And another man named Bello, movin' aroundmysteriously.
"I didn't do it," he says, and he throws up his hands
"I was only robbin' the register, I hope youunderstand.
I saw them leavin'," he says, and he stops
"One of us had better call up the cops."
And so Patty calls the cops
And they arrive on the scene with their red lightsflashin'
In the hot New Jersey night.
Meanwhile, far away in another part of town
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin'around.
Number one contender for the middleweight crown
Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down
When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
Just like the time before and the time before that.
In Paterson that's just the way things go.
If you're black you might as well not show up on thestreet
'Less you wanna draw the heat.
Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for thecops.
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin'around
He said, "I saw two men runnin' out, they looked likemiddleweights
They jumped into a white car with out-of-stateplates.
"And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head.
Cop said, "Wait a minute, boys, this one's not dead"
So they took him to the infirmary
And though this man could hardly see
They told him that he could identify the guilty men.
Four in the mornin' and they haul Rubin in,
Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs.
The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye
Says, "Wha'd you bring him in here for? He ain't theguy!"
Yes, here's the story of the Hurricane,
The man the authorities came to blame
For somethin' that he never done.
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.
Four months later, the ghettos are in flame,
Rubin's in South America, fightin' for his name
While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robberygame
And the cops are puttin' the screws to him, lookin'for somebody to blame.
"Remember that murder that happened in a bar?"
"Remember you said you saw the getaway car?"
"You think you'd like to play ball with the law?"
"Think it might-a been that fighter that you sawrunnin' that night?"
"Don't forget that you are white."
Arthur Dexter Bradley said, "I'm really not sure."
Cops said, "A poor boy like you could use a break
We got you for the motel job and we're talkin' to yourfriend Bello
Now you don't wanta have to go back to jail, be a nicefellow.
You'll be doin' society a favor.
That sonofabitch is brave and gettin' braver.
We want to put his ass in stir
We want to pin this triple murder on him
He ain't no Gentleman Jim."
Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
But he never did like to talk about it all that much.
It's my work, he'd say, and I do it for pay
And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way
Up to some paradise
Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
And ride a horse along a trail.
But then they took him to the jail house
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse.
All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance.
The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum
And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger.
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger.
And though they could not produce the gun,
The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
And the all-white jury agreed.
Rubin Carter was falsely tried.
The crime was murder "one," guess who testified?
Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride.
How can the life of such a man
Be in the palm of some fool's hand?
To see him obviously framed
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
Where justice is a game.
Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
An innocent man in a living hell.
That's the story of the Hurricane,
But it won't be over till they clear his name
And give him back the time he's done.
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.
