Brittany Martin, convicted of protesting police brutality, is finally home

She’s home.

Brittany Martin, the South Carolina woman who spent nearly four years in prison after being arrested during a George Floyd protest in June 2020, has been released.

Martin, 36, had been separated from her five children and husband for nearly 1,000 days before she was released Wednesday morning. She was transferred from the Illinois Department of Corrections to South Carolina last week for an unexpected homecoming.

“I am so grateful. I am so grateful,” Martin told Capital B in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “I’m still in shock right now. It still feels so surreal right now. It hasn’t dawned on me yet that I’m free.’

Her husband, Eric Kennedy, drove 14 hours south from Lincoln, Illinois, to Sumter, the county they once called home, with the couple’s five children for the reunion. Martin and her family moved there after she was sentenced to four years in prison for protesting and raising her voice against police officers.

Martin was indicted by a grand jury after being charged with incitement of a riot and other charges for her actions during a protest in 2020. She was released seven months earlier.

“I walked the whole 2.5 years, with my integrity, my dignity and my respect – I held my head high,” Martin said. “I’ve been through so much pain and I’ve seen so much pain over the last two and a half years. It has done nothing but really humble my spirit and my soul.”

Martin, was convicted of breach of the peace of a high and aggravated nature. The jury acquitted her of violent crimes, including five counts of threatening the lives of those police officers. She continues to maintain her innocence.

Martin and her family, like millions of others around the world, left their homes during the pandemic to protest the police killing of George Floyd. Kennedy, 38, was also arrested during a protest against the same event in June 2020; the charges against him were dismissed.

Kennedy, like many other civil rights and prison reform activists, has questioned the legality of his wife’s charges from the start. Legal advocates argued that Martin was being made an example of, and that her conviction was intended to send a message about the consequences of protesting in South Carolina.

Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Grassroots, told Capital B hours before Martin’s release early Wednesday morning that she “shares a sigh of relief with Black mom and freedom fighter – Brittany Martin.”

Martin’s attorneys say her conviction could be added to the list of 1,822 other black men and 105 black women whose convictions have been overturned since 1989, according to the National Registry of Exonerations database.

After multiple requests from Black Lives Matter Grassroots for Martin’s release, Capital B spoke to her on the phone from prison in February. Martin asked the public at the time to “help survive” her time behind bars. She had just been transferred 900 miles from home to Lincoln, Illinois, without her family’s knowledge, after protesting prison guards cutting off her locomotives, and alleging abuse such as malnutrition while nearly eight months pregnant during her stay in a Sumter County. prison.

“Give the same energy I got when I was there. The same love, candor and care,” Martin said, adding that “I need to save my life so I can come out and celebrate that moment of my exoneration with everyone.”

Advocates say they will continue to fight in court to overturn Martin’s conviction, arguing that she exercised her constitutional right to protest and express her opinions regardless of the tone she used.

“We are asking the South Carolina Supreme Court to hear Brittany’s appeal and overturn her conviction even if she is released,” Paul Bowers, a spokesperson for the ACLU-South Carolina, said in an email to Capital B “The goal would be both to clear this conviction from her record and to protect the rights of protesters in our state in the future.

As a returning citizen, Martin may face a series of challenges when it comes to adjusting to having a felony on her permanent criminal record, while also caring for her mental, physical and emotional health. She was separated from her five children, one of whom she gave birth to while in prison.

During Martin’s 925 days in jail, the number of black people killed by police officers since Floyd remained at an average of well above 250 per year.

“To be clear, her release is not justice. Brittany should be celebrated for being in the name of #GeorgeFloyd, not maligned and locked up,” Abdullah said in a text message. “The criminal system of injustice continues to prove how utterly irredeemable it is and demonstrates the urgency of the fight to make Black Lives Matter.”

These children need their ‘mommy’

Kennedy received confirmation of Martin’s arrival at the prison from the South Carolina Department of Corrections on Monday morning. Martin was returned to the Sumter County Jail, where she was first sent after her conviction in May 2022.

Kennedy says it is “surreal” that she is finally being released.

“It’s been a journey,” Kennedy told Capital B on Monday morning. He received instructions from prison officials on when to arrive at the prison Tuesday evening to pick her up: “I’m ecstatic.”

Abdullah said she and the organization’s Charleston chapter were outside the prison to greet Martin with her family and trial attorney, Sybil Rosado.

After being showered with gifts wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper and enjoying the giggles of her toddler — whom she named Blessing — Martin returned to the Sumter County Courthouse Wednesday afternoon to meet her probation officer. While there, Martin was shocked to see two of the officers who testified against her, but she said she was proud of how she responded.

“This is how I know God has changed me. God has grabbed me, held me and healed me. Because I didn’t feel an ounce of anger,” said Martin, whose 18-year-old son was killed before her trial began. “I didn’t feel an ounce of malice in my heart. I felt no hatred. I just looked at him and smiled [in] my head and said, ‘How are you, sir.’”

One of the officers, a woman, hugged her with open arms and apologized, Martin said. When Martin went back to the car, she cried for the first time.

Before this moment, Martin had two other chances to get out of prison before she was eligible for parole on May 15, 2025: the first in May before a parole board, which denied her release, and the second in a rare case when the ACLU was released. involved in her criminal case.

The South Carolina chapter of the national nonprofit civil rights organization filed an appeal on the grounds that Martin’s First Amendment rights were violated by Sumter County’s prosecution — that appeal was denied in July. In the appeal, they also highlighted the racial disparity in Martin’s sentence, which ACLU attorneys said was excessive.

Read more: South Carolina has punished a black woman for protesting. Her supporters demand her release.

“Brittany has remained faithful and strong throughout her unjust imprisonment and unimaginable abuse,” said Abdullah, co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter. “What a tremendous honor it is to fight alongside her and her loving and courageous family and community who have supported her throughout this time.”

Before Martin’s release, Kennedy said he was under financial strain because he had to uproot the entire family to keep the children — especially their young child, whom she was still caring for — close to their mother. Despite Kennedy’s efforts, he said communications with Martin were infrequent because prison officials had placed her on “restricted” status more than once after her conviction.

But now Martin wants to take a break to be with her children, husband and family to make up for lost time. And she wants to enjoy their giggles.

Still, Kennedy says he held on to his belief that his children will finish 2024 with their “mommy” at home.

“I really can’t believe this day has arrived.”

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