On Democracy Now! Today!!
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/01/1429239The Case of Gary Tyler: Despite Witness Recantations and No Physical Evidence, Louisiana Prisoner Remains Jailed After 32 Years
The case of Louisiana’s Gary Tyler has been called one of the great miscarriages of justice in the modern history of the United States. Tyler, an African-American, has been jailed since he was 16 years old for a 1974 murder that many believe he did not commit. An all-white jury convicted him based entirely on the statements of four witnesses who later recanted their testimony. We speak with Tyler’s mother, Juanita, and his sister Bobbie McCray. We’re also joined by New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, who has been covering Tyler’s case. And we hear Tyler in his own words in an un-aired interview from prison. Amnesty International has renewed its call for Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco to pardon Gary Tyler who is serving a life sentence without parole in the Angola prison. He has been in jail since he was 16 years old for a crime that many believe he did not commit.
On October 7, 1974, a white mob enraged over school integration attacked a school bus filled with black students in Destrehan, Louisiana. In the frenzy, a thirteen-year old white student named Timothy Weber was shot dead. Gary Tyler was one of the black students aboard the bus. He was arrested and then tried by an all-white jury. The case against him rested on the statements of four witnesses all of whom have since recanted. Within a year he was convicted and sentenced to death by electric chair. He became the youngest person on death row in the country. Tyler escaped electrocution only because the Supreme Court declared Louisiana’s death penalty unconstitutional.
For the past 32 years Gary Tyler has always maintained his innocence. In 1981 a federal appeals court ruled that Tyler was “denied a fundamentally fair trial.” Even Louisiana’s own board of pardons has issued rulings on three occasions that would have allowed Tyler to be freed. But Tyler remains behind bars. His case has been called one of the great miscarriages of justice in the modern history of the United States.
Bob Herbert of the New York Times recently wrote a series of columns on Gary Tyler that has sparked renewed interest in the 32-year-old case. Bob Herbert is here with us in our Firehouse studio. Gary Tyler’s mother Juanita Tyler and his sister, Bobbie McCray join us from New Orleans. They visited Gary in prison yesterday.
* Bob Herbert. Bob Herbert joined The New York Times as an Op-Ed columnist in 1993. He is the author of the book “Promises Betrayed: Waking up from the American Dream,” a collection of his columns from 1995 to 2004.
* Juanita Tyler. Mother of Gary Tyler.
* Bobbie McCray. Gary Tyler's sister.
* Gary Tyler, in one of his few recorded interviews since he was imprisoned 32 years ago. About 10 years ago a student named Maia Weerdmeester spent over five hours interviewing Tyler in prison. This interview has never been aired before.
More information on Gary Tyler’s case and efforts to free him from jail at Free Gary Tyler.
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