A sad chapter of N.C. history
If you have HBO, you can learn about a sad chapter of North Carolina history at 8 p.m. this Thursday evening.
The cable net is showing "The Trials of Darryl Hunt," a documentary about a brutal rape-murder case that divided the city of Winston-Salem for two decades. It’s a tangled story that makes for fascinating viewing even if you know what happened.
In 1984, Deborah Sykes was abducted, robbed, raped and fatally stabbed on her way to work one morning. Darryl Hunt was arrested in the case.
Sykes, 25, had been a copy editor for the Winston-Salem Sentinel – a now-defunct afternoon newspaper once affiliated with the Winston-Salem Journal.
When I checked in on my first day as a reporter at the Winston-Salem Journal in 1992, my first job out of college, the human resources director told me to be careful in the parking lot in the mornings. I was startled to learn the reason why.
In Winston-Salem, many black people I knew believed Hunt was an innocent victim of a rush to judgment by racist investigators. Many white people who were around at the time of the case believed he was guilty. The case became a symbol of racial wounds in the city.
Hunt was convicted on the basis of testimony from eyewitnesses who placed him at or near the crime scene. He later appealed and won a new trial. He was convicted a second time. He steadfastly maintained his innocence.
I was covering courts for the Winston-Salem Journal in 1993 and 1994, after the second conviction, when Hunt’s defense won the right to perform DNA tests on semen recovered from the scene. The tests used DNA technology that hadn’t been available in the 1980s.
The tests ruled out Hunt as a source of the DNA. But they didn’t win him another new trial. A judge decided the new evidence likely wouldn’t have resulted in a different outcome at a trial. One reason: prosecutors had argued Hunt probably didn’t act alone. But the DNA tests also excluded two men suspected with being with Hunt at the time of the attack.
In 2003, prompted in part by an in-depth series in the Winston-Salem-Journal about the case, investigators finally linked the DNA evidence to another suspect. Willard Brown, who had no known association with Hunt, confessed and told investigators Hunt wasn’t involved. Hunt was exonerated in a 2004 court hearing after serving 19 years.
I drove to Winston-Salem on Saturday, along with Observer colleague Victoria Cherrie, another Winston-Salem Journal vet who had a hand in covering the case, to see the documentary when it screened as part of the RiverRun Film Festival (here’s Lawrence Toppman’s coverage of the festival). It’s an incredible story, and it’s still hard to understand how it all could have happened the way it did.
But one thing gave me hope as I watched the screen. Towards the end of this film, there’s a shot of supporters gathered in a Winston-Salem church to cheer for Hunt’s exoneration. The cameras pan across the jubilant faces – both black and white, celebrating together.
The cable net is showing "The Trials of Darryl Hunt," a documentary about a brutal rape-murder case that divided the city of Winston-Salem for two decades. It’s a tangled story that makes for fascinating viewing even if you know what happened.
In 1984, Deborah Sykes was abducted, robbed, raped and fatally stabbed on her way to work one morning. Darryl Hunt was arrested in the case.
Sykes, 25, had been a copy editor for the Winston-Salem Sentinel – a now-defunct afternoon newspaper once affiliated with the Winston-Salem Journal.
When I checked in on my first day as a reporter at the Winston-Salem Journal in 1992, my first job out of college, the human resources director told me to be careful in the parking lot in the mornings. I was startled to learn the reason why.
In Winston-Salem, many black people I knew believed Hunt was an innocent victim of a rush to judgment by racist investigators. Many white people who were around at the time of the case believed he was guilty. The case became a symbol of racial wounds in the city.
Hunt was convicted on the basis of testimony from eyewitnesses who placed him at or near the crime scene. He later appealed and won a new trial. He was convicted a second time. He steadfastly maintained his innocence.
I was covering courts for the Winston-Salem Journal in 1993 and 1994, after the second conviction, when Hunt’s defense won the right to perform DNA tests on semen recovered from the scene. The tests used DNA technology that hadn’t been available in the 1980s.
The tests ruled out Hunt as a source of the DNA. But they didn’t win him another new trial. A judge decided the new evidence likely wouldn’t have resulted in a different outcome at a trial. One reason: prosecutors had argued Hunt probably didn’t act alone. But the DNA tests also excluded two men suspected with being with Hunt at the time of the attack.
In 2003, prompted in part by an in-depth series in the Winston-Salem-Journal about the case, investigators finally linked the DNA evidence to another suspect. Willard Brown, who had no known association with Hunt, confessed and told investigators Hunt wasn’t involved. Hunt was exonerated in a 2004 court hearing after serving 19 years.
I drove to Winston-Salem on Saturday, along with Observer colleague Victoria Cherrie, another Winston-Salem Journal vet who had a hand in covering the case, to see the documentary when it screened as part of the RiverRun Film Festival (here’s Lawrence Toppman’s coverage of the festival). It’s an incredible story, and it’s still hard to understand how it all could have happened the way it did.
But one thing gave me hope as I watched the screen. Towards the end of this film, there’s a shot of supporters gathered in a Winston-Salem church to cheer for Hunt’s exoneration. The cameras pan across the jubilant faces – both black and white, celebrating together.
posted by Leigh at
10:04 AM
13 Comments:
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go see the movie " SKELETONS of North Carolina " this will spell it all for you about the justice system in N.C. This movie is about a young black child getting the electric chair for something a white boy did ; They knew it and would not stand up to the plate .
The Charlotte Observer is another trouble making paper and loves to stir up race and hate mongering to the PUBLIC; Thats why the Newcomer was really developed, the Charlotte Observer likes to stir up WILMINGTON and other stories that happened in Greensboro; In Greensboro there was a thriving all black town that was wiped out because of white envy towards Blacks; Whites blame the Blacks for not being incentive and get jealous when they get ahead .
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Hate, hate, hate, hate.
HATE TOWN U.S.A. is what the Chamber should put across their welcome wagon brochures.
You people are truely disturbed. I can only hope in another 10 years Charlotte will be rid of most of the ignorance that holds it back.
There are numerous cases across the country of wrongly convicted people who are finally exonerated thanks to advances in technology. We can't change the past, but we have the choice to move forward and work to make a better future. To do that, requires that we educate ourselves which is our own responsibility. Time to stop blaming and start doing!
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Every State has a "sad" chapter in their history. Every hear about the story of Mary Fagan in Atlanta?
People are not perfect, in the courts or out and that is what we need to understand. You find in life that everyone has a worse story. Learn from the past, but you need to move on to improve the future!
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