Infinite Hope: How Wrongful Conviction, Solitary Confinement and 12 Years on Death Row Failed to Kill My Soul, Anthony Graves
Anthony Graves has lived through the worst travesty and failure of our legal system to provide him with justice. For him, it was a system that was rife with racism, political abuse, a system peopled with corrupt judges motivated by politics rather than justice, a District Attorney intent on convictions regardless of guilt or innocence, deceitful and insincere members of law enforcement, corrupt convicts willing to bargain with the lives of others to curry favor and help themselves within the prison system, witnesses too afraid of the system to testify in his defense, and lawyers motivated by fee rather than the guilt or innocence of the accused.
Convicted of a crime he never committed, possessing an airtight alibi, he was nevertheless sentenced to death and mistreated for almost two decades. Graves finally walked out of prison, 18 ½ years later, a free man, not a bitter man, although he had every right to be angry and bitter. Instead he was a man now dedicated to helping others fight the system that trapped them, often unjustly. Anthony Graves was not a murderer or an ex-convict. Anthony Graves was, and is today, a hero who represents an example for others. He never gave up, never lost his faith, and always remained hopeful in a hopeless situation, believing it had to get better. As he tells his story, it is hard not to want to scream out against the system that incarcerated him, railroaded him, and then even after throwing out his conviction after 14 years, kept him imprisoned, working for his freedom for four more years. It is hard not to want some kind of revenge. I think of the “go fund me” pages that are organized for various causes, some far less worthy than his, and I wonder why there is none set up, at least for his Foundation. His current unselfish efforts to fix the system, free innocent men and women wrongfully incarcerated or excessively sentenced, and to represent those underserved, are noble and worthwhile and deserve widespread recognition and support.
His description of the prison system in Texas is enlightening and heartbreaking at the same time. The bias and dishonesty that existed within the confines of the justice system, the system that totally ignored his credible alibi, made my head spin. It was sometimes difficult to discern between the criminality of those in prison and those in charge of the prison. It could not help but make me wonder why our prison system, originally meant to rehabilitate, seems now to only mete out punishment and lacks compassion.
I have never believed in the death penalty. As a college student, decades ago, I wrote a paper on Caryl Chessman, who at 27 years old was arrested as “the red light bandit”. He, too, spent twelve years on death row. His execution was carried out. I do not believe that a system which can be flawed should mete out such flawed justice. If taking a life is criminal, it is criminal for all.
As I read, however, I did question the logic of becoming a father at so young an age, with multiple women, without any real visible means of support. It seemed like poor judgment, and I hope that he will try and set a better example for those with whom he now interacts. Certainly, though, his judgment had nothing to do with the crime for which he was unjustly convicted. I would have liked to discover more about Robert Carter’s reasoning for accusing Graves of a crime he never committed. I was disappointed in his girlfriend Yolanda’s behavior. Upon reflection, I had hoped that she might have returned as a witness, realizing that she was innocent. Then again, so was he, and he was convicted. The lack of experience within the world of law and order was devastating. The manipulation of innocent people was horrifying. I was struck by the fact that although Graves had already been subjected to the corrupt justice system, when he was forced to admit to a drug crime he had never committed, the possession of cocaine, he still believed in a justice system that so routinely ensnared young black men. He was caught in a whirlpool of disasters, a maelstrom of deception and treachery and a lack of knowledge about how to work within the system that had trapped him.
In the end, Robert Graves was unjustly robbed of so much of his life; he did not watch his children grow older or share in their successes and failures, comfort them in their bouts of sickness, or enjoy the warmth of his family as they celebrated special moments together. How can such a debt ever be repaid to him? “Justice delayed is justice denied”!
Although wrongfully accused of a heinous crime, until the very end, the wheels of justice moved unhurriedly for him; he was forced to remain a prisoner for 18 ½ years. When the book ended, I was left with several unresolved questions. From what I could tell, only the DA suffered any consequence from the lies that were told, from the manipulation and concealment of evidence and the intimidation of witnesses. Why was no justice meted out to those Rangers who were complicit in his conviction, to those witnesses who lied, or to the judge concerned more with protecting her father than the innocent victim of her father’s injustice? It seems to me that justice still has not been served.
I encourage all to read this book in order to understand the problems of our current legal system and to perhaps be inspired to fix it!
**I received this book from Beacon Press through the early reviewers program on libraything.com