Biography
Lynnard Hill was a Black man from St. Paul, Minnesota, whose rape conviction became the subject of a defense campaign challenging racial bias and disputed eyewitness identification. A professional musician, he was charged in February 1975. The defense challenged the identification procedures and the prosecution witness’s inconsistent account. The Militant explicitly reported that he and his brother were imprisoned in September 1977, each serving a twenty-year sentence; it argued that the convictions were unjust. Their mother Gloria Hill organized support. These are the contemporary defense account’s claims, not a later judicial exoneration. Exact prison admission and release dates and any later disposition are not established by this source. Source: The Militant, September 23, 1977, p. 24, https://www.themilitant.com/1977/4135/MIL4135.pdf