Beyond Innocence, Phoebe Zerwick
Beyond Innocence, Phoebe Zerwick
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Beyond Innocence
The Life Sentence of Darryl Hunt

Author: Phoebe Zerwick

Narrator: Sean Crisden

Unabridged: 9 hr 3 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/10/2022

Synopsis

In June 1985, a young Black man named Darryl Hunt was falsely convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a white copyeditor at the local paper. Many in the community believed him innocent and crusaded for his release. Finally, in 2003, the tireless efforts of his attorney combined with an award-winning series of articles by Phoebe Zerwick in the Winston-Salem Journal led to the DNA evidence that exonerated Hunt. Three years later, the acclaimed documentary, The Trials of Darryl Hunt, made him known across the country and brought his story to audiences around the world.

But Hunt's story was far from over. Part true crime drama, part chronicle of a life cut short by systemic racism, Beyond Innocence powerfully illuminates the sustained catastrophe faced by an innocent person in prison and the civil death nearly everyone who has been incarcerated experiences attempting to restart their lives. Freed after nineteen years behind bars, Hunt became a national advocate for social justice, and his case inspired lasting reforms. He was a beacon of hope for so many—until he could no longer bear the burden of what he had endured and took his own life.

Beyond Innocence makes an urgent moral call for an American reckoning with the legacies of racism in the criminal justice system and the human toll of the carceral state.

About Phoebe Zerwick

Phoebe Zerwick is an award-winning investigative journalist, narrative writer, and college teacher. Her writing has appeared in O, the Oprah Magazine, National Geographic, the Nation, Winston-Salem Journal, and Glamour, among other publications. Her work has been recognized by The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Society of Professional Journalists, Columbia University, and the North Carolina Press Association and featured in the HBO documentary The Trials of Darryl Hunt. She is the director of the journalism program at Wake Forest University.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Kym on February 27, 2024

This book is one that ripped at my heartstrings because there was no happily ever after ending to the wrongful conviction of Darryl Hunt. His case is one of many criminal injustice cases that we have heard of much too often. Along with the pain, and raw emotions that you felt knowing about this case......more

Goodreads review by Adrienne on March 22, 2022

Compelling, readable, and well-researched, this book tells the story of the wrongful arrest and conviction of Darryl Hunt for the murder of Deborah Sykes in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in 1984. The incompetence, and later, deception and malevolence of the police department is illustrative of the......more

Goodreads review by Laura on February 26, 2024

the first third of this book literally made me nauseous. this book is not easy. but it's necessary. i am in awe of the people who supported Hunt throughout his incarceration, who fought for his release and devoted so much of their lives to his freedom. the least i can do is be informed about it, rig......more

Goodreads review by Eric on December 23, 2022

This whole book was a gut punch the whole way through. It was a raw look into our system and how it has failed many over the years! There were lots of sections that were difficult to read only because they are tough to imagine someone going through. I really thought the author did a great job at captu......more

Goodreads review by Emily on February 21, 2024

Wow!! Knowing the topic of this book even before I began, as a NC native who had heard some about it at the time, this book was still shocking. I was saddened by the reality of our criminal justice system and the way it ruined Darryl Hunt’s life, and I kept noticing parallels between his story and t......more

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