Alton H. Maddox Jr., a famed civil rights attorney who was involved in several high-profile civil rights cases in the 1980s has died. He was born on July 21, 1945 and passed away on April 23, 2023 at age 77. A cause of death is yet to be made public.
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Born in Inkster, Michigan, and raised in Newnan, Georgia, Maddox began practicing law in 1976, after graduating from Howard University (BA, 1967) and Boston College Law School (JD, 1971).
Maddox was the attorney for Cedric Sandiford and the family of manslaughter victim Michael Griffith in the Howard Beach incident. Maddox and other lawyers demanded a special prosecutor be appointed to the case, and the request was eventually granted. Maddox accused the New York City Police Department and Commissioner Benjamin Ward of a cover-up.
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Maddox represented the family of murder victim Yusuf Hawkins in the Bensonhurst incident.
He also represented Michael Briscoe, a man who was arrested during the investigation into the alleged rape of the Central Park jogger. Briscoe was found innocent in that case.
Maddox was a former Director of the National Conference of Black Lawyers Juvenile Defense Project. He was also the founder of the Center for Law & Social Justice at Medgar Evers College and co-sponsored the 1983 Congressional hearings on Police Brutality in New York City.
He often contributed to publications such as Amsterdam News and was a frequent guest on WLIB radio’s Sharp Talk program, hosted by Sharpton.
He was married to Leola W. Maddox, his wife of many years until her death in 2017 and they had a son.
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