Gary Tyler

Gary Tyler (born July 1958) from St. Rose, Louisiana has been a prisoner in Louisiana since 1975, when he was convicted at age 17 of the 1974 shooting death of a 13-year-old white boy. Originally sentenced to death, Tyler was the youngest prisoner on death row.

The Fifth Circuit US Court of Appeals ruled the trial was "fundamentally unfair". Tyler's cause has been taken up by human rights organizations, as well as many other supporters, including a range of sports figures and organizations in 2007.

Events

In 1974 formerly all-white Destrehan High School had been full of tensions as it reluctantly integrated, 20 years after the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education. Because of fights, officials closed the school early during the day of the events.

Black students were sent home on their regular bus. Tyler was 16 and on the bus. As they were leaving Destrehan High School, the bus was attacked by an angry mob of 100-200 whites, mostly students. The whites were angry about integration and tensions at the school. Timothy Weber, a 13-year-old boy standing outside the bus near his mother, was shot and fatally wounded. He later died. Police searched the bus, but no gun was ever found.