Biography
Dave Mack Humphrey was an Alabama A&M student whose rape prosecutions became the subject of a campaign alleging racist police harassment and unreliable identification. A June 1974 report described his actual imprisonment at Atmore and said he was already in jail on March 9, 1973. It distinguished an earlier June 8, 1972 arrest followed by actual release on bail from subsequent arrests. The Alabama appellate court affirmed one rape conviction in 1974, rejecting his confession and identification challenges; two judges dissented over evidence about other offenses. A 1976 defense letter continued to challenge the prosecutions. These allegations do not establish exoneration.
The June 1974 report distinguishes Humphrey’s June 8, 1972 arrest on an attempted-rape allegation from his later prosecutions and imprisonment. It says he actually obtained bail and was released before further police encounters. This separate earlier episode is not used as a continuous start date for his later prison term. The publication’s frame-up claims are allegations, not an exoneration finding. Source: The Black Panther, June 1, 1974, PDF page 9. https://www.lincoln.edu/_files/langston-hughes-memorial-library/Black%20Panthers%20Newspaper%20Publications/BP06011974.pdf#page=9
Dave Mack Humphrey was an Alabama A&M student whose rape prosecutions became the subject of a campaign alleging racist police harassment and unreliable identification. A June 1974 report described his actual imprisonment at Atmore and said he was already in jail on March 9, 1973. It distinguished an earlier June 8, 1972 arrest followed by actual release on bail from subsequent arrests. The Alabama appellate court affirmed one rape conviction in 1974, rejecting his confession and identification challenges; two judges dissented over evidence about other offenses. A 1976 defense letter continued to challenge the prosecutions. These allegations do not establish exoneration.
The Militant, February 20, 1976, volume40 number7, PDF page 11; The Black Panther, June 1, 1974, page9, PDF page 9; Humphrey v. State, 304 So.2d 617 (Ala. Crim. App.1974), original majority and dissent.
Source-reported institution: Atmore State Prison.
