Digital Scholarship and Initiatives

At 80 years old, a man that sent more than 50 people to death row, Joe Freeman Britt, passed away. At one time, Britt was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for sending more people to death row than any other prosecutor. Britt was not one to admit courtroom mistakes. He sent teenagers Henry Lee McCollum and Leon Brown to over 30 years in prison, with McCollum spending the majority of that on death row. Years later, DNA evidence proved that they had been wrongly convicted, that they did not rape the 11-year-old Britt “proved” they did. Britt denied it. He never apologized. While there are those who mourn the loss of Britt, many are not sad to see him go. The last line of the article reads: “Joe Freeman Britt is dead. Perhaps now Lady Justice can uncover her face.”