HURRICANE: THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF RUBAN CARTER

By: Cory Case

About

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (born May 6, 1937) fought professionally as a middleweight boxer from 1961 to 1966. In 1966, he was arrested for a triple homicide in the Lafayette Bar and Grill in Paterson, New Jersey. He and another man, John Artis, were tried and convicted twice (1967 and 1976) for the murders, but after the second conviction was overturned in 1985, prosecutors chose not to try the case for a third time.

Early Life

the fourth of seven children. He acquired a record and was sentenced to a juvenile reformatory for assault and robbery shortly after his 14th birthday. Carter escaped from the reformatory in 1954 and joined the Army. A few months after completing infantry basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, he was sent to West Germany. In his first year, Carter compiled a 35-5 record and won the European Lightweight Championship. He began going to classes—including a Dale Carnegie class, which helped him to conquer his stuttering problem. He even adopted Islam and changed his name for a while. Carter performed poorly as a soldier, and was court-martialed four times for charges from being Absense without leave,In May 1956, he received an "Undesirable" discharge, having served 21 months of his three-year term of enlistment.[1]

He began going to classes—including a Dale Carnegie class, which helped him to conquer his stuttering problem. He even adopted Islam and changed his name for a while. Carter performed poorly as a soldier, and was court-martialed four times for charges from being Absense without leave, In May 1956, he received an "Undesirable" discharge, having served 21 months of his three-year term of enlistment.[1]

Boxing

September 1961 he started his boxing career. Mostly at the weight 150-160. He began to go into the top ten of the middleweight best of the world. Through 1965 his career was 27 wins and 12 losses with most of the victories as KOs.

Murder trial

Two guys came in the lafayette bar and shot two people and killed them. A witness described ruban carters car the left the bar immediatley after the killings. He was brought in and with another person. They were sent to prison on the first trial.they both got life sentences. They opened the case ten years later. 1974, bob dylan wrote a song about this corrupted trial.He got released after a re-trial.His whole life he got persecuted for doing nothing wrong.