defense. During the fall tour preceding Desires release, Dylan and the Rolling Thunder Revue played a benefit concert for Carter in New York City's Madison Square Garden, raising $100,000. The following year, they played another benefit at the Houston Astrodome. Dylan met with managers Richard Flanzer and Roy Silver, who provided Stevie Wonder, Ringo Starr and Dr. John for the concert. After expenses were paid, however, the Houston event failed to raise any money. Despite winning the right to a new trial, Carter and Artis were once again found guilty when the prosecution argued that the defendants committed triple murder at the Lafayette Grill in revenge for the killing of an African-American tavern owner earlier during the same night. In 1976, Carter was sentenced to two consecutive life terms. Dylan, and the other high-profile supporters, did not attend the trial. Artis was paroled five years later. In 1985 Federal Judge H. Lee Sarokin of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, who declined to hear the song when it was offered to him by his family, ruled that Carter had not received a fair trial and overturned the conviction, resulting in Carter's release and the granting of a writ of habeas corpus to Carter, commenting that the prosecution had been "based on racism rather than reason and concealment rather than disclosure". In 1988, after the prosecution said they would not seek a third trial and filed a motion to dismiss, following their failed appeal to the Supreme Court which declined to hear the case and upheld Sarokin's ruling, a Superior Court judge dropped all charges against Carter and Artis. Certifications Cover versions The song has been covered by Ani DiFranco, Furthur, Middle Class Rut, the Milltown Brothers and Iain Lee when he sang it on his Late Night Alternative phone in show on Talkradio in January 2018. In the season three premiere of the Showtime TV Show, Our Cartoon President, the song was parodied as a proclamation of Donald Trump's innocence during the 2020 impeachment trial of Donald Trump. The parody was performed by cartoon variants of Fox & Friends hosts Steve Doocy (On harmonica and acoustic guitar, a reference to Dylan's most commonly played instruments), Ainsley Earhardt (On cello), and Brian Kilmeade (On violin). References External links Lyrics at from Bob Dylan's official site 1975 singles Songs written by Bob Dylan Cultural depictions of boxers