A court hearing will be held Thursday to decide whether a judge will dismiss the murder charge against a Black man accused in the decades-old killing of a White man in Georgia.
Three all-White juries found Clarence Henderson guilty of fatally shooting Carl “Buddy” Stevens in Carroll County on Halloween night in 1948. Stevens, an Army veteran, was killed while defending his girlfriend, Nan Turner, against a masked man trying to rape her, FOX Atlanta reported.
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Henderson, a sharecropper, said he was home with his wife at the time of the killing. He was found guilty in three separate trials.
“He had his first trial for one day. He was convicted in one day,” Henderson’s great-grandson, Brandon Henderson, told the news outlet.
The Georgia Supreme Court overturned each guilty verdict for lack of evidence while the county never officially dismissed the charges. Henderson spent five years in prison for the crime. The case has since languished for more than 70 years.
In January, the Carroll County District Attorney’s Office asked a judge to dismiss the charge against Henderson, now deceased for more than 40 years, because of insufficient evidence.
“I’m very thankful for the criminal justice system for allowing this to take place, however, I wish it would’ve happened sooner,” Brandon Henderson said.
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