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Wrongly
Convicted Database
Record
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Years
Imprisoned:
|
2 |
Charge: |
Murder |
Sentence: |
Life Imprisonment |
Year Convicted: |
1939 |
Year
Cleared:
|
1941 |
Location
of Trial:
|
Pennsylvania |
Result:
|
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary
of Case:
|
Defendant in same case as Rudolph Sheeler - but not co-defendants. 'Mentally slow, 19-year-old George Bilger falsely confessed under police pressure to murdering a policeman. During his trial, two eyewitnesses identified him as the man who had held them up. The actual murderer was later picked up with the murder weapon, and Bilger was pardoned. |
Conviction
Caused By:
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False confession to murdering a policeman, and erroneously identified by two eyewitnesses. |
Innocence
Proved By:
|
Actual murderer was found with the murder weapon of Patrolman Morrow. He was killed resisting arrest.
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Defendant
Aided By:
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Compensation Awarded: |
No |
Was Perpetrator Found? |
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Age
When Imprisoned:
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Age
When Released:
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Information Source 1: |
“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 97+. |
Information
Location 1:
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Information
Source 2:
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The Innocents, Edward Radin,William Morrow & Co., 1964, p. 241-242 |
Information
Location 2:
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Information
Source 3:
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Information
Location 3:
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Information
Source 4:
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Information
Location 4:
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Information
Source 5:
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Information
Location 5:
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Ethnicity/Skin:
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White |
Book
About
Case:
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Book
Information:
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Book About Case (2): |
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Book Information (2): |
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Movie About Case: |
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Comments About Case: |
Falsely confessed |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org