John Artis

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Charge:	Murder
Sentence:	Life Imprisonment
Years Imprisoned:	15
Year Crime:	1966
Year Convicted:	1966
Year Cleared:	1988
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	New Jersey
County or Region of Crime:	Passaic
City of Crime:	Paterson
Result:	Judicially Exonerated
Summary of Case:	"John Artis was the co-defendant of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. The two men were wrongfully convicted twice (1967 and 1976) of a triple murder in Paterson, New Jersey due to prosecutorial misconduct and police perjury. The two men had no motive, didn't match the killers' description, they were cleared of being the attackers by two of the victims, and Carter passed a lie detector test. Artis and Carter were sentenced to life in prison. Artis was paroled in 1981 after 15 years of imprisonment. Carter's federal writ of habeas corpus was granted in 1985 by U.S. District Court Judge Haddon Lee Sarokin, who noted in setting aside Carter's conviction that the prosecution had been "predicated upon an appeal to racism rather than reason, and concealment rather than disclosure." Carter was released in November 1985 after 19 years of imprisonment. After the federal Third Circuit Court of appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review Sarokin's ruling, the Passaic County Prosecutor declined to retry them for a third time and the charges were dismissed. Their story is the subject of movie "The Hurricane." Artis pled guilty in August 1987 to drug and weapon charges and was sentenced to six years in state prison."
Conviction Caused By:	Prosecutorial misconduct of concealing potentially exculpatory evidence and police perjury.
Innocence Proved By:	Federal Judge Sorokin granted Carter's writ of habeas corpus in 1985.
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	20
Age When Released:	34
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	"Carter v. Rafferty, 621 F. Supp. 533 (NJ 1985)"
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	"Rubin Carter, Wikipedia.org (last visisted 6-9-12)"
Information Location 2:	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubin_Carter
Information Source 3:	"John Artis Imprisoned Again, AP story, The New York Times, August 9, 1987"
Information Location 3:	http://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/09/nyregion/john-artis-imprisoned-again.html
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John Artis

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

Life Imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

15

Year Crime:

1966

Year Convicted:

1966

Year Cleared:

1988

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

New Jersey

County or Region of Crime:

Passaic

City of Crime:

Paterson

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Prosecutorial misconduct of concealing potentially exculpatory evidence and police perjury.

Innocence Proved By:

Federal Judge Sorokin granted Carter's writ of habeas corpus in 1985.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

20

Age When Released:

34

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"Carter v. Rafferty, 621 F. Supp. 533 (NJ 1985)"

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"Rubin Carter, Wikipedia.org (last visisted 6-9-12)"

Information Location 2:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubin_Carter

Information Source 3:

"John Artis Imprisoned Again, AP story, The New York Times, August 9, 1987"

Information Location 3:

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/09/nyregion/john-artis-imprisoned-again.html

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Book Information:

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