Former death row inmate Anthony Ray Hinton, who was exonerated in 2015 after spending nearly 30 years behind bars in Alabama, says he has forgiven the state for its decades-long injustice.
Since being released, Hinton says he hopes his life story serves as inspiration to others – particularly young people who"have no hope."
"I don't think you can get any lower than where I was: On death row for a crime you didn't commit sitting in solitary confinement for 30 years," he told"CBS Mornings" on Tuesday."If I can hold onto hope and come out and try to be the person that I know that I am inside, I want them to know that they can do the same thing.
In 1985, detectives falsely identified Hinton for the murders of two fast-food workers and arrested the then-29-year-old at his Alabama residence. Hinton, who is Black, recalled detectives telling him at the time of his arrest that race would be a contributing factor into his conviction, whether he was guilty or not.
Hinton's attorney Bryan Stevenson spent 16 years fighting to free Hinton. In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court