CARTER, RUBIN "HURRICANE" SIGNED LETTER FROM PRISON (1972-PSA/DNA)

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (May 6, 1937 – April 20, 2014) was an American-Canadian middleweight boxer who was convicted of murder and later released following a petition of habeas corpus after spending almost 20 years in prison. In 1966, police arrested Carter and friend John Artis for a triple homicide committed at the Lafayette Bar and Grill in Paterson, New Jersey. Police stopped Carter's car and brought him and Artis, also in the car, to the scene of the crime. Police did not take fingerprints at the crime scene and lacked the facilities to conduct a paraffin test for gunshot residue. Carter and Artis were tried twice for the murders in 1967 and 1976 and convicted; both served time in Rahway State Prison. After the second conviction was overturned in 1985, prosecutors chose not to try the case for a third time. Carter's autobiography, titled The Sixteenth Round, written while he was in prison, was published in 1975 by Warner Books. The story inspired the 1975 Bob Dylan song "Hurricane" and the 1999 film The Hurricane (with Denzel Washington playing Carter). From 1993 to 2005, Carter served as executive director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted. Offered here is a scarce, original letter which was written and signed by Rubin Carter while in prison in 1972. Carter wrote the letter to James Doherty of Champion Sports Publishing Corp. requesting all boxing photos of him they had in their possession after reading an article about himself. Carter writes the article, "brought back by-gone memories that left me pacing my cell like a caged animal."
This is a one page, typed letter which has been signed in ink, "Rubin "Hurricane" Carter." Has original folds. Includes a copy of the answer to this letter by Stanley Weston, the publisher. Clean front and back. Light toning at edges. 8 1/2" x 11." Authenticated by PSA/DNA with their full letter (PSA # AG04321).