Three men were originally convicted of assassinating civil rights activist Malcolm X on February 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. Two of those men, who maintained their innocence throughout their lengthy prison sentences, were exonerated earlier this week.
The three men arrested, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison were Mujahid Abdul Halim, also known as Talmadge Hayer; Muhammad A. Aziz, also known as Norman 3X Butler; and Khalil Islam, also known as Thomas 15X Johnson. Halim confessed to his role in the assassination but maintained that Aziz and Islam were innocent and had no part in the planning or the execution. Islam died in 2009 after being released from prison in 1987 and Aziz is in his 80s and was released from prison in 1985.
A docuseries released on Netflix, “Who Killed Malcolm X,” raised serious questions on the validity of the 1966 trial that convicted Aziz and Islam. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. took on the case to re-examine the evidence and the court proceedings.
A 22-month investigation by Mr. Vance along with the Shanies Law Office, which represents the estates for both men, found that significant evidence was left out of the court proceedings leading to an incorrect judgment. Following the investigation, Mr. Vance submitted a 43-page motion to vacate the convictions of Aziz and Islam following the evidence uncovered. The Innocence Project stated that “compelling evidence of innocence known to the FBI and NYPD was hidden from the defense at trial and only recently revealed through a reinvestigation of the case.”
Exoneration is the legal avenue to absolve an individual of a crime they allegedly committed. The court vindicates the accused once enough evidence of innocence, a flaw in the original judgment, or some other legality is proven. In some cases, exonerees are awarded compensation for the time they spent in prison or other penalties they incurred.
Expungement, on the other hand, is sealing a person’s past criminal record. It does not take the criminal offense away or vindicate an individual but makes it easier for those with criminal records to find housing, secure a job, or even get an education because the criminal ruling will not be accessible to landlords, employers, or educational institutions. Both exoneration and expungement make it easier for an individual to return to normal life after either being wrongfully convicted or serving time in prison.
The National Registry of Exonerations, a joint project by the Universities of California Irvine, Michigan, and Michigan State collects and analyzes data for all known exonerations in the United States since 1989. In just the 31 years since its establishment, the project has found 2,891 exonerations equaling more than 25,600 years lost by those incorrectly imprisoned.
The organization found that Black defendants served 14,525 years for false convictions and “Black exonerees spent an average of 10.4 years in prison, significantly more than white exonerees, who averaged 7.5 years.” Roughly 45% of exonerees ever received compensation for their time spent behind bars equaling about $2.9 billion paid out by state governments.
While the experience of life behind bars cannot be taken away by this move, the record is finally set straight, and history is re-written to reflect an accurate story. This misjudgment years ago, however, allowed the real culprits to get away with their crime, while Islam and Aziz were forced to live apart from their families and serve time in prison for a crime they did not commit.
