FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 1, 2022
'The Clay Cane Show' on SiriusXM Urban View is hosted by award-winning journalist, author and television personality, Clay Cane. With a listenership of over 3 million, the show has hosted a diverse roster of guests from A-list celebrities to radical policy makers including Vice President Kamala Harris, Senator Cory Booker, Paula Patton, Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Kirk Franklin and Patti LaBelle. Cane’s engaging journalistic questioning, along with his raw commentary, continues to attract new supporters. In addition, the show provides a wide-spread influential media platform that reaches people with various political, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds from across the world.
Several months ago, Cane began a new series titled “Exonerated” where once a week he interviewed men and women who had been wrongfully imprisoned and released. However, recently he has expanded the series to include the often-untold stories of innocent individuals who are still incarcerated and fighting to prove their innocence. While very few journalists are willing to cover the complex and sensitive stories of those waiting to be exonerated, Cane has defied the status quo and bravely set a new precedent. This week’s episode will spotlight the disturbing case of Detroit native and innocent juvenile lifer, Robert T. Hinds.
Hinds, charged with first-degree premeditated murder and felony firearm as a juvenile, was convicted of both charges and sentenced to life in prison without parole at the age of 17. After maintaining his innocence for years, Hinds and his supporters discovered a miscellaneous case file maintained by the Detroit Police Department through a FOIA request. This case file contained exculpatory evidence that was wrongfully withheld from his state-appointed defense attorney during his trial in 2001. Within this miscellaneous case file, there was an overwhelming amount of DNA and physical evidence supporting his claim of actual innocence including an untested hair follicle with the root attached and usable fingerprints that were found at the crime scene, police tip sheets implicating other suspects with actual motive to commit the crime and credible witness statements. Hinds, who had an alibi at the time of the murder, didn’t know the victim, was not linked to the crime through DNA and who was not picked out of the line-up by the prosecution’s witness, was ultimately convicted based on the false testimony of the prosecution’s perjured witness.
“The evidence we discovered is material because it undermines, contradicts, or impeaches the prosecution's witness and theory in my case,” said Hinds. “It’s unbelievable! The police misconduct in my case is absolutely criminal, but I’m the one sitting in prison.”
Hinds’ advocacy team asserts that had this evidence been provided to his trial attorney and heard by the jury instead of wrongfully withheld, he would have never been convicted. In April 2020, Hinds filed an exoneration application with the Wayne County Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU).
Unfortunately, Hinds’ case is not an anomaly. The State of Michigan ranks 5th in the nation for wrongful convictions and according to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, between 2% and 10% of convicted individuals in US prisons are innocent. Due to a lack of funding and staffing, the CIU reported to the Detroit Free Press in December 2021 that it has 1800 applications, 1000 open investigations, and 30 open cases. Despite the substantial evidence submitted to the CIU in Hinds’ exoneration application, his case is one of the 1000 open investigations that has yet to be assigned to a staff attorney, which means that his nightmare of wrongful imprisonment continues with no foreseeable release date in sight.
Concerned family and friends of Hinds have started a petition on his behalf to urge the Wayne County Conviction Integrity Unit to assign an attorney to the investigation of his exoneration application immediately. Supporters can sign the petition for Hinds’ freedom at www.change.org/freeroberthinds or make a donation to his legal fund at https://fundrazr.com/freeroberthinds More information about Hinds’ exoneration journey and the evidence discovered that proves his innocence can be reviewed at www.facebook.com/alife4alifeUI Hinds can also be contacted directly at www.jpay.com using the inmate ID 410196.
“I am so grateful to Mr. Cane for keeping these stories in the media and for the opportunity to advocate for Mr. Hinds on such a huge platform,” says Reverend Erinna McKissick, co-founder of A Life for A Life Urban Initiative in Michigan, a grassroots organization for social justice that has championed Hinds’ case since 2013. “It’s too late to talk about these issues decades later when someone innocent is finally released. The public needs to know about these injustices now so that the necessary changes for criminal justice reform can take place.
When asked what the desired outcome of this week’s episode is Hinds responded, “To go viral of course! I pray that someone in power hears about this injustice, intervenes, and helps me get the justice I deserve so that I can go home.”
The interview for Hinds’ case will air Wednesday, February 2 at 2:30pm EST on “The Cane Clay Show” Sirius XM Urban View Channel 126.