In the summer of 2022, the late great Roberta Penn introduced me to Ronald Canty, or “Mr. C” as she called him. Roberta, a pugnacious but big-hearted advocate, had been following a criminal case involving Canty’s son.
Canty, who went by “Gator” with his friends, was the father of Dyrell Green, one of three men charged in the TRU Colors double homicide case.
Over the years, we met many times. The first time we talked — it was “Mr. Canty, sir,” at that point — he was very upfront about his own criminal history, including some serious charges from the late 1970s. But he had kept his nose clean for decades since then, focusing on his family and friends, and more than anything else, his son’s legal case…