Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, boxer wrongly convicted of murder, dead at 76

Hamish Blair / Getty Images

Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, boxer wrongly convicted of murder, dead at 76
(Image credit: Hamish Blair / Getty Images)

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, the star boxer whose wrongful murder conviction in the 1960s sparked an international outcry against alleged racial bias in the criminal justice system, has died of prostate cancer. He was 76.

Carter was tried and convicted twice of shooting and killing three men in New Jersey in 1966 despite a startling lack of evidence and amid allegations that the prosecution was motivated by racial prejudice. Both convictions were later overturned, though Carter remained jailed for almost two decades.

Carter's case was immortalized in Bob Dylan's 1975 epic "Hurricane," and in the 1999 film The Hurricane, starring Denzel Washington.

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Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.