In 1984 at age 19, Hunt was charged with the rape and murder of a newspaper copy editor but was later exonerated in February 2004, after DNA evidence showed he was innocent and led police to Willard Brown, who later confessed to the murder.
After he was exonerated, he was granted a pardon by the Governor and awarded a settlement of more than $1.6 million in 2007.
After he was released, Hunt still had nightmares about his time in jail and the fact that he was wrongly accused for a crime he didn’t commit. Due to that, he went to the ATM every day, not necessarily to get money but just so that he could prove where he was at anytime of the day in case he was wrongfully accused again of another crime.
Hunt then went on to found the Darryl Hunt Project for Freedom and Justice, which is an advocacy group for those wrongfully convicted and travelled across North Carolina, his home state, with People of Faith Against Death Penalty to speak about abolishing the death penalty and improving the justice system.
Hunt had recently been diagnosed of cancer but he didn’t let that stop him from accomplishing what he wanted to do.
Early Sunday morning, the police were called about a person believed to be dead in a car near a University campus. When they got there, they found Hunt unresponsive.
A cause of death has not been released.
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