Jeff Beach

Justice on the Ropes Jeff Beach

Rubin Carter and John Artis Had Been Knocked Down... But what prosecutors who built a highly questionable case against the famous middleweight boxer and his teenage acquaintance in the 1966 Lafayette Bar and Grille triple murders in Paterson, New Jersey, did not count on was a young investigator from the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender who was willing to devote his free time, talent and energies to picking apart the case built on "eyewitnesses" who likely saw nothing they had claimed to see and racial prejudice against two African-American defendants. As Fred W. Hogan tracked down the "eyewitnesses" and got them to admit their statements to police were lies, the world began to pay attention to the case, with Bob Dylan writing a famous song about "The Hurricane" and boxing luminaries like Muhammad Ali, "Sugar Ray" Robinson and others holding fund-raisers and speaking out against the injustice done to Carter and Artis. Ultimately, they would be freed, and Carter, Artis and Hogan would make exposing other wrongful convictions a life's work and passion.