{"product_id":"from-death-row-to-freedom-the-struggle-for-racial-justice-in-the-pitts-lee-case-9780813080130","title":"From Death Row to Freedom: The Struggle for Racial Justice in the Pitts-Lee Case","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFlorida Book Awards, Silver Medal for Florida Nonfiction\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFlorida Historical Society Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Award\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn insider's account of a wrongful conviction and the fight to overturn it during the civil rights era \u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis\u003cbr\u003e book is an insider's account of the case of Freddie Pitts and Wilbert \u003cbr\u003eLee, two Black men who were wrongfully charged and convicted of the \u003cbr\u003emurder of two white gas station attendants in Port St. Joe, Florida, in \u003cbr\u003e1963, and sentenced to death. Phillip Hubbart, a defense lawyer for \u003cbr\u003ePitts and Lee for more than 10 years, examines the crime, the trial, and\u003cbr\u003e the appeals with both a keen legal perspective and an awareness of the \u003cbr\u003eendemic racism that pervaded the case and obstructed justice.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHubbart\u003cbr\u003e discusses how the case against Pitts and Lee was based entirely on \u003cbr\u003econfessions obtained from the defendants and an alleged \"eyewitness\" \u003cbr\u003ethrough prolonged, violent interrogations and how local authorities \u003cbr\u003erepeatedly rejected later evidence pointing to the real killer, a white \u003cbr\u003eman well known to the Port St. Joe police. The book follows the case's \u003cbr\u003etortuous route through the Florida courts to the defendants' eventual \u003cbr\u003eexoneration in 1975 by the Florida governor and cabinet. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFrom Death Row to Freedom\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e is a thorough chronicle of deep prejudice in the courts and brutality \u003cbr\u003eat the hands of police during the civil rights era of the 1960s. Hubbart\u003cbr\u003e argues that the Pitts-Lee case is a piece of American history that must\u003cbr\u003e be remembered, along with other similar incidents, in order for the \u003cbr\u003ecountry to make any progress toward racial reconciliation today. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePublication of this work made \u003cbr\u003epossible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan\u003cbr\u003e grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University Press of Florida","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50454380740882,"sku":"9780813080130","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_2a125331-b3ea-44cf-9eb7-253927789496.jpg?v=1737120772","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/from-death-row-to-freedom-the-struggle-for-racial-justice-in-the-pitts-lee-case-9780813080130","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}