Making Justice Our Business: The Wrongful Conviction of Darryl Hunt and the Work of Faith

Making Justice Our Business is the story of Darryl Hunt, and of those drawn to him who refused to give up on him, each other, and justice. Boyd tells the story of how one summer morning in 1985, an attractive, white newspaper editor named Deborah Sykes was raped, brutally stabbed, and murdered in a Southern town. A 911 caller gave a false name--Sammy Mitchell--and the investigation quickly focused on him and his friend, Darryl Hunt, a black nineteen-year-old orphan. Facing public pressure and having a history with Mitchell, a District Attorney won a conviction before an all-white jury, sending Hunt to prison for life. Convinced of his innocence, a handful of people led a community effort to free him that turned into a nineteen-year struggle with a few exhilarating highs, but more discouraging, depressing defeats against an intractable justice system. Their dogged determination led to an improbable series of events in 2003 that broke the case open. This is the story of an extraordinary man told by a white, uneasy participant who came late to the struggle but was transformed by the process.

Stephen Boyd is the John Allen Easley Professor of Religion at Wake Forest University. He is the author of Pilgram Marpeck: His Life and Social Theology (1992) and The Men We Long to Be (1996).