Ernest Hunter

On September 13, 1958, at about 7:30 p.m., St. Mary’s, Georgia, Police Department (SMPD) Officer Billy Carter, the subject, arrested Ernest Hunter, a 22-year-old African-American for “interfering” when the subject was writing a traffic ticket. The subject placed the victim in his patrol car and transported him to the city jail. The subject claimed that once inside the jail, the victim swung at him, struggled with him, and started to choke him and punched him. According to the subject, he then “blacked out.” The subject stated that he could not recall drawing and firing his gun at the victim, fatally wounding him. Three eyewitnesses corroborated the subject’s account that the victim fought with him at the jail, and two of those witnesses stated that the victim was choking the subject when the subject fired the fatal gunshot.