Part I. The murder convictions (1963-1964) -- Introduction : the end of the ordeal -- Curtis Adams and the Port St. Joe/Ft. Lauderdale murders -- The Port St. Joe interrogations -- The Panama City interrogations -- The Army CID investigation -- A court hearing -- Pitts and Lee confess -- The initial trial court proceedings -- The death sentence -- The appeal -- Part II. The newly discovered evidence (1965-1971) -- Pitts and Lee get a new lawyer and the state's case begins to collapse -- Curtis Adams confesses -- The struggle to reopen the case -- Dueling newspapers in Miami and Panama City -- The defense prepares -- The Port St. Joe hearing begins -- The Port St. Joe hearing continues -- The defense rests -- The Port St. Joe hearing concludes -- The ruling and the appeal -- Part III. The new trial and its aftermath (1971-1975) -- Phase I of the pretrial proceedings -- Phase II of the pretrial proceedings -- Phase I of jury selection -- Phase II of jury selection -- The state's case -- The defense case -- The final arguments -- The trial concludes -- The appeal -- Freedom.
Summary:
"This book is an insider's account of the case of Freddie Lee Pitts and Wilbert Lee, two Black men who were wrongfully charged and convicted of murder and sentenced to death during the civil rights era of the 1960s"-- Provided by publisher. "An insider's account of a wrongful conviction and the fight to overturn it during the civil rights era This book is an insider's account of the case of Freddie Lee Pitts and Wilbert Lee, two Black men who were wrongfully charged and convicted of the murder of two white gas station attendants in Port St. Joe, Florida, in 1963, and sentenced to death. Phillip Hubbart, a defense lawyer for Pitts and Lee for more than 10 years, examines the crime, the trial, and the appeals with both a keen legal perspective and an awareness of the endemic racism that pervaded the case and obstructed justice. Hubbart discusses how the case against Pitts and Lee was based entirely on confessions obtained from the defendants and an alleged "eye witness" through prolonged, violent interrogations and how local authorities repeatedly rejected later evidence pointing to the real killer, a white man well-known to the Port St. Joe police. The book follows the case's tortuous route through the Florida courts to the defendants' eventual exoneration in 1975 by the Florida governor and cabinet. From Death Row to Freedom is a thorough chronicle of deep prejudice in the courts and brutality at the hands of police during the civil rights era of the 1960s. Hubbart argues that the Pitts-Lee case is a piece of American history that must be remembered, along with other similar incidents, in order for the country to make any progress toward racial reconciliation today. Publication of this work made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.