Dessie Woods’ name was known around the world after she was sentenced to 22 years in prison for killing a white man in Georgia with his own gun when he tried to rape her. Despite large-scale national and international pressure and more than 20 errors by the trial court, the supreme court of Georgia denied Dessie Woods’ appeal and upheld her conviction. In 1981, after serving five years of the original 12, Dessie was released from Hardwick Prison in Georgia.