The Sports Xchange
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a boxer who spent nearly 20 years in prison because he was wrongfully accused of a triple murder, died from prostate cancer in Toronto on Sunday. He was 76.
John Artis, Carter's friend and caregiver who was also wrongfully convicted for the crime, confirmed that Carter died in his sleep.
Carter spent 19 years in prison for three murders in Paterson, N.J., in 1966. He and Artis were convicted in 1967 and again after a new trial in 1976.
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Carter was finally freed in 1985 when his convictions were dismissed following years of appeals and public advocacy. Bob Dylan's 1975 song "Hurricane," several books and a 1999 film starring Denzel Washington all portrayed Carter's ordeal and made him a symbol of racial injustice.
The murder conviction ended Carter's boxing career. He went 27-12-1 with 19 knockouts as a middleweight. His most memorable bouts were beating two-division champion Emile Griffith in the first round in 1963 and losing a middleweight title bout in December 1964 to champion Joey Giardello.
Three white people were shot by two black men at the Lafayette Bar and Grill in Paterson in June 1966. Carter and Artis were convicted by an all-white jury, mainly on the testimony of two thieves who later retracted their stories.
