Former death row inmate speaks about his exoneration and the death penalty

Shujaa Graham, a former death row inmate, spoke at Richmond Wednesday night about his experience with the U.S. criminal justice system and the death penalty. In 1973, Graham was convicted of murdering a prison guard in California, where he was serving time for a robbery. He was sentenced to death, but in 1979, his death sentence was overturned, and in 1981, he was found not guilty and released from prison.

“I am not here because the system worked,” Graham said. “I am here in spite of the system.”

Graham described the difficulties of growing up as an African American in a racially segregated Louisiana. He eventually moved with his family to Los Angeles, where he became involved with a gang and was sent to juvenile detention several times.

“I was in and out of juvenile hall,” Graham said. “Each time I went off and spent a year in prison, I told myself I would never come back.”

When he was sent to prison for the last time at age 18, Graham renounced his gang activity, taught himself to read and write, and became a leader of a prisoner’s rights movement, he said. It was during this time that he was convicted of murder. Graham told the crowd of students that it was people like them who supported him and eventually helped to prove his innocence.

His sentence to death row was overturned when the court found that African American jurors had been intentionally excluded from his jury, Graham said. It took two more years for him to be found not guilty of the murder.

Graham encouraged students to fight for causes that can help bring positive change to the world.

“Find a cause of social justice and human rights and add it to your vocation,” Graham said. “We must commit ourselves to non-violence.”

Graham said that he regrets the gang activity of his youth, but he does not regret his actions in prison that he believes led to him being framed.

“I suffered for being part of a movement,” Graham said. “But I have no regrets.”

Contact reporter Jack Clark at john.s.clark@richmond.edu.