{{short description|American poet}} {{Infobox criminal | honorific_prefix = | name = Delbert Lee Tibbs | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Delbert tibbs by viewminder.jpg | image_upright = | image_size = | alt = | caption = Delbert Tibbs in 2011 — Viewminder's Man of the Year | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1939|06|19}} | birth_place = Shelby, Mississippi, U.S. | disappeared_date = | disappeared_place = | disappeared_status = | death_date = {{Death date and age|2013|11|23|1939|06|19}} | death_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | body_discovered = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | monuments = | nationality = <!-- use only when necessary per [[WP:INFONAT]] --> | other_names = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = Chicago Theological Seminary | occupation = {{hlist|Writer|anti-death penalty activist}} | years_active = | employer = | organization = | agent = | known_for = Accused of rape and murder | notable_works = | style = | net_worth = | height = | television = | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | movement = | opponents = | boards = | criminal_charge = | conviction_penalty = Death | conviction_status = Exonerated | spouse = <!-- Do not include unless notable or relevant to the crime involved --> | children = <!-- (as above) --> | parents = <!-- (as above) --> | relatives = | callsign = | awards = | website = | allegiance = <!-- [[Lucchese crime family]] (only?) --> | motive = | conviction = | trial = <!-- Only use this if the trial is bluelinked, e.g. Mafia Commission Trial --> | trial_start = | trial_end = | reward_amount = | capture_status = | wanted_by = | partners = | wanted_since = | time_at_large = | escaped = | escape_end = | comments = | victims = | date = | time = | beginyear = | endyear = | country = | states = | locations = | targets = | fatalities = | injuries = | weapons = | apprehended = | imprisoned = | module = | signature = | signature_size = | signature_alt = | footnotes = }} '''Delbert Lee Tibbs''' (June 19, 1939 – November 23, 2013) was an American man who was [[wrongful conviction|wrongfully convicted]] of [[murder]] and [[rape]] in 1974 in [[Florida]] and [[death penalty|sentenced to death]]. Later [[Exoneration|exonerated]], Tibbs became a writer and [[anti-death penalty]] activist.

==Early life== Tibbs was born June 19, 1939, in [[Shelby, Mississippi]]; he moved with his family to [[Chicago]] at age 12, as part of the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] from the South to the North.<ref>Boxall, Bettina (December 12, 2013). [https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-delbert-tibbs-20131213,0,1621161.story#axzz2nRYN5tTP Delbert Tibbs dies at 74; exonerated man's life defined by time on death row]. latimes.com. Retrieved December 14, 2013.</ref> He attended the [[Chicago Theological Seminary]] from 1970 to 1972.

==Incident== In 1974, 27-year-old Terry Milroy and 17-year-old Cynthia Nadeau were violently attacked near [[Fort Myers, Florida]]. Milroy was murdered and Nadeau was raped. She reported that they had been picked up while hitchhiking by a black man who fatally shot her boyfriend, and then beat and raped her, leaving her unconscious by the side of the road.<ref>[http://www.law.northwestern.edu/legalclinic/wrongfulconvictions/exonerations/fl/delbert-lee-tibbs.html "Delbert Lee Tibbs - The prosecutor admitted the case had been tainted from the beginning"], Northwestern University Law, Bluhm Legal Clinic, Center for Wrongful Conviction, Retrieved March 22, 2015</ref> That night, Nadeau gave the police a detailed description of the assailant and his truck.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |title=Tibbs v. Florida, 457 U.S. 31 (1982) |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/457/31/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250624063307/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/457/31/ |archive-date=2025-06-24 |access-date=2026-02-13 |work=Justia Law |language=en}}</ref>

==Arrest, trial, and conviction== Several days later, Tibbs was hitchhiking in [[Florida]] about 220 miles north of the crime scene when he was stopped by a patrolman since he matched the description given by Nadeau. The photographed Tibbs and relayed the pictures to the Fort Myers police. When Nadeau examined these photos, she identified Tibbs as her attacker. A judge issued a warrant for Tibbs' arrest. He was picked up in [[Mississippi]] two weeks later and sent to Florida.<ref name=northwestern/> Nadeau subsequently picked Tibbs out of a lineup and positively identified him at trial as the man who raped her and murdered her boyfriend.<ref name=":0" />

Tibbs' attorney attempted to show that Nadeau was an unreliable witness. She admitted during cross-examination that she had tried "just about all" types of drugs and that she had smoked marihuana shortly before the crimes occurred. Id. at 526, 545-546. She also evidenced some confusion about the time of day that the assailant had offered her and Milroy a ride. Finally, counsel suggested through questions and closing argument that Nadeau's former boyfriend had killed Milroy, and that Nadeau was lying to protect her boyfriend. Nadeau flatly denied these suggestions

During the trial, the prosecution supplemented the victim's identification with testimony from a jailhouse informant, who claimed Tibbs had confessed to the crime. Tibbs claimed he had an alibi. However, the prosecution produced a card with Tibbs's signature that directly contradicted part of his alibi.<ref name=":0" />

The [[all-white jury]] convicted Tibbs of murder and rape, and he was sentenced to [[death penalty|death]].<ref name="northwestern">{{cite web|url=http://www.law.northwestern.edu/legalclinic/wrongfulconvictions/exonerations/fl/delbert-lee-tibbs-studs-terkel-excerpt.html|title=Studs Terkel: Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Center on Wrongful Convictions |publisher=[[Northwestern University School of Law]]|author=Tibbs, Delbert Lee|date=2001|accessdate=2014-03-13}}</ref>

==Post-trial and appeal== After the trial, the informant recanted his testimony, saying he had fabricated his account hoping for leniency in his own rape case. On appeal, the [[Florida Supreme Court]] remanded the case and reversed the decision, on the grounds that there was "considerable doubt that Delbert Tibbs is the man who committed the crimes." The court ordered a retrial.<ref>[http://law.justia.com/cases/florida/supreme-court/1976/47258-0.html ''Tibbs v. State''], Justia - US Law</ref> Tibbs was released in January 1977. Without the informant's testimony, convicting Tibbs would be extremely difficult. Nadeau was a drug addict and the truck was never found.<ref name=":0" /> In 1982, the Lee County State Attorney dismissed all charges, ending the chance of a retrial. No alternate suspect was ever found.<ref name=northwestern/>

In 2006, the prosecutor who chose not to try Tibbs told the Florida Commission on Capital Crimes that "Tibbs, in my opinion, was never an innocent man wrongfully accused. He was a lucky human being. He was guilty, he was lucky and now he is free. His 1974 conviction was not a miscarriage of justice."<ref>{{Cite news |title=Kansas v. Marsh, 548 U.S. 163 (2006) |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/548/163/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250807154231/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/548/163/ |archive-date=2025-08-07 |access-date=2026-02-13 |work=Justia Law |language=en}}</ref>

==Subsequent campaigning== After that time Tibbs worked as an anti-death penalty activist. He also sought changes in the criminal justice system, especially limits on the use of eyewitness identifications which numerous studies have shown to be unreliable and highly flawed.{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}}

Tibbs was one of six persons featured in the play ''[[The Exonerated]]'' (2002), based on accounts from death row inmates who were exonerated. (See Legacy, below.) The authors said that he was one of the inmates who showed belief in something larger to sustain him. He had said to them, "I realized if I internalized all the pain, and all the anger, and all the hurt, I'd be dead already."<ref name="justice">[http://gothamist.com/2005/04/11/jessica_blank_and_erik_jensen_playwrights_the_exonerated_authors_living_justice.php Rachel Kramer Bussel, "Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, playwrights, 'The Exonerated,' authors, 'Living Justice'"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150220041943/http://gothamist.com/2005/04/11/jessica_blank_and_erik_jensen_playwrights_the_exonerated_authors_living_justice.php |date=2015-02-20}}, ''The Gothamist,'' 11 April 2005; accessed January 13, 2017.</ref>

Tibbs was among the audience when Governor [[George Ryan]] of Illinois and other politicians watched a production of the play. Ryan ordered a review of use of the death penalty in Illinois. Disturbed by learning more about injustices and a high rate of exonerations, in 2003, before leaving office, Ryan commuted the death sentences of 167 inmates on death row to life imprisonment.<ref name="CNNRyan">{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/01/11/illinois.death.row|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080208044123/http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/01/11/illinois.death.row/|archivedate= February 8, 2008|accessdate=October 5, 2007|publisher=CNN|author=Flock, Jeff |date=January 13, 2003 |title='Blanket commutation' empties Illinois death row}}</ref> Later Tibbs was with a group talking to Governor [[Pat Quinn (politician)|Quinn]] about injustices in the penal system.

On February 14, 2011, Tibbs, along with fellow exonerees and anti-death penalty activists, spoke with Illinois Governor [[Pat Quinn (politician)|Pat Quinn]] about repealing the death penalty in their state.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cjbk.com/InternationalNews/Article.aspx?id=262592 |title=News/Talk 1290 CJBK London :: International News Story - Article |publisher=Cjbk.com |date= |accessdate=2012-09-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://wjbc.com/ex-death-row-inmates-urge-quinn-to-sign-ban/ |title=Ex-death row inmates urge Quinn to sign ban &#124; WJBC - The Voice of Central Illinois |publisher=WJBC |date=2011-02-15 |accessdate=2012-09-01 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308143650/http://wjbc.com/ex-death-row-inmates-urge-quinn-to-sign-ban/ |archivedate=2012-03-08}}</ref> A month later, on March 14, 2011, Quinn signed a bill to repeal the death penalty in Illinois.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.suntimes.com/4225981-417/quinn-signs-bill-repealing-illinois-death-penalty.html |title=Chicago Sun-Times |publisher=Suntimes.com |date= |accessdate=2012-09-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.witnesstoinnocence.org/view_news.php?Gov.-Quinn-cites-innocence-as-reason-for-abolishing-death-penalty-158 |title=Gov. Quinn cites innocence as reason for abolishing death penalty &#124; www.witnesstoinnocence.org &#124; from death row to freedom &#124; witness to innocence &#124; philadelphia PA |publisher=witness to innocence |date=2011-03-10 |accessdate=2012-09-01 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417222114/http://www.witnesstoinnocence.org/view_news.php?Gov.-Quinn-cites-innocence-as-reason-for-abolishing-death-penalty-158 |archivedate=2012-04-17}}</ref>

==Writer== Tibbs began writing during prison, and published a book of poetry after his release entitled ''Poems Prayers & Logics'' (ENAAQ Publications, 1984). He later published ''Selected Poems and Other Words/Works'' (2007), edited by O'Modele Jeanette Rouselle and published in New York by the Manifestation-Glow Press. His poetry also appears in the chapbook anthology ''Beccaria'' (2011), edited by poet [[Aja Beech]].

==Representation in other media== In November 1976, [[Pete Seeger]] wrote and recorded the anti-death penalty song "Delbert Tibbs".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.peteseeger.net/songwriter_magazine.htm |title=Songwriter - Pete Seeger and Writing For Freedom |publisher=Peteseeger.net |date=1976-07-28 |accessdate=2012-09-01 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120912091020/http://www.peteseeger.net/songwriter_magazine.htm |archivedate=2012-09-12}}</ref>

Eric Jensen and Jessica Blank wrote ''[[The Exonerated (play)|The Exonerated]],'' a play about Tibbs and five other people who have been freed. It premiered in 2002 [[Off-Broadway]] in New York City. The playwrights recount how each person was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, in addition to exploring their exoneration after varying years of imprisonment.

''The Exonerated'' was adapted as [[The Exonerated|a television film]] by the same name, which first aired on the [[CourtTV]] cable television station on January 27, 2005. Tibbs is portrayed by [[Delroy Lindo]]. At the end the film fades from the actor to Tibbs, who talks about his experience and his hopes.

==Death== Tibbs died of cancer on November 23, 2013. He was 74.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/us/delbert-tibbs-who-left-death-row-and-fought-against-it-dies-at-74.html|title=Delbert Tibbs, Who Left Death Row and Fought Against It, Dies at 74|newspaper=The New York Times|date=8 December 2013|last1=Weber|first1=Bruce}}</ref>

==See also== *[[List of wrongful convictions in the United States]]

==References== {{Reflist}} 8. Obituary, The Economist December 21, 2013 p.&nbsp;140 (economist.com)

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110723090039/http://www.witnesstoinnocence.org/view_stories.php?Delbert-Tibbs-10 Delbert Tibbs bio at] [[Witness to Innocence]] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110624055024/http://being.publicradio.org/programs/studsterkel/tibbs.shtml Excerpt from Studs Terkel's book "Will the Circle Be Unbroken? Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith." ] *Beech, Aja. ed. [http://padp.org/sites/default/files/Beccaria_Web%5B1%5D_1.pdf ''Beccaria'']{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}} 2011.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tibbs, Delbert}} [[Category:1939 births]] [[Category:2013 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century African-American people]] [[Category:American male poets]] [[Category:American people wrongfully convicted of murder]] [[Category:American people wrongfully convicted of rape]] [[Category:American prisoners sentenced to death]] [[Category:People convicted of murder by Florida]] [[Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by Florida]] [[Category:Overturned convictions in the United States]] [[Category:20th-century American poets]] [[Category:People from Shelby, Mississippi]] [[Category:Chicago Theological Seminary alumni]] [[Category:20th-century American male writers]] [[Category:Deaths from cancer in Illinois]]