Quilt artist sentenced to death at 17 now has solo museum exhibit

Gary Tyler, who was sentenced to death at age 17, now has his first solo exhibit at the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Michigan, WRVO reported. The exhibit includes a black-and-white quilt based on a photo taken by Tyler's brother in 1974, shortly after Tyler was arrested.

Tyler was arrested in Louisiana after a white 13-year-old was killed during anti-school-integration violence. He was charged with murder despite maintaining his innocence, and was represented by a divorce lawyer who was deemed incompetent. Four friends initially testified against Tyler but later recanted their statements, according to WFAE.

The judge instructed an all-white jury to assume Tyler intended to kill multiple people, leading to his conviction and death sentence. At the time, he was the youngest person on death row and was sent to the Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola, where he was placed in solitary confinement.

Wanda Bertram of the Prison Policy Initiative told WRVO that Tyler's story is not unique, noting many incarcerated people have troubling experiences with inadequate defense and coercion by police and prosecutors. Louisiana has the highest rate of death row inmates in the country, the report said.