Death Penalty & Exoneration Cases by Chretien Li https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e en-us 2018-10-03 05:00:00 UTC 2025-05-06 23:52:54 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Balance.png Guilty Case: Earle Leonard Nelson 99018381 https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288450094 - In February, 1926, Nelson began an eighteen-month rampage. Would be the deadliest in American history for another half a century
- Started from San Francisco, then up along the West Coast, to other side of the country on the east, finally ending up in Canada
- At least 21 victims, most likely more, varied throughout different regions
- His targets were mainly middle-aged or elderly landladies who had placed "Rooms to Let" ads in the paper, Nelson (who could be charmer when he needed to be) would show up and ask to see a room. Once alone with his prey, however, he would undergo a classic Jekyll/Hyde transformation
- Led many of his earliest descriptions to be dual personality of sorts
- Typically, he would choke the women to death, commit postmortem rape, then stash the corpses in strange hiding places
- Papers eventually dubbed him "The Gorilla Killer," for the pure savagery and brutality of his slayings.
- Captured in Manitoba, Canada. Tried in Winnipeg (capital of Manitoba)
- Appeal was denied, and jury found him guilty. Sentenced to death by hanging on  January 13, 1928 at the Vaughan Street Jail
]]> 2018-10-03 05:01:23 UTC https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288450094 Earle Nelson's Mug Shots 99018381 https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288450862 2018-10-03 05:10:14 UTC https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288450862 Gorilla Killer Arrest 99018381 https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288451284 2018-10-03 05:14:37 UTC https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288451284 Clara Newman: The First Victim 99018381 https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288451508 2018-10-03 05:16:45 UTC https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288451508 Winnipeg Law Courts 99018381 https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288451684 2018-10-03 05:18:30 UTC https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288451684 Germania Harpin and her infant son, murdered on December 27, 1926 99018381 https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288452014 2018-10-03 05:21:45 UTC https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288452014 Gorilla Killer Video 99018381 https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288452209 2018-10-03 05:24:00 UTC https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288452209 Is it justified? 99018381 https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288452641 - Earle Nelson originally admitted to his murders and rape, bluntly telling reporters: "I only do my lady killings on Saturday nights"
- However, nearing his trial, Nelson would repeatedly claim his innocence, and his defendants would try insanity plea
- Summation of evidence was far too great
- 60+ witnesses, as well as clothing, and a psychiatrist deemed him legally sane
- The "Gorilla Killer" posed great danger and harm to hundreds of people as well as terrorized thousands more
- Found guilty of multiple accounts of grotesque first degree murder
- His death sentence penalty is legally justified]]> 2018-10-03 05:27:40 UTC https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288452641 Exoneration Case: James Bain 99018381 https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288454098 - On the evening of March 4, 1974, a nine-year-old boy sleeping at his home in Lake Wales, Florida, was dragged to a baseball field and raped
- The victim told police that his assailant appeared to have been 17 or 18 years old and had a mustache and bushy sideburns 
- According to the victim, the man had said his name was “Jim” or “Jimmy”
- The police questioned Bain at his home at around midnight on March 5, 1974. Bain claimed that he had been at home watching television at the time of the attack, an alibi that was supported by Bain’s sister
- Police still arrested him
- In spite of this conflicting serological evidence and Bain’s alibi, Bain was convicted of rape, kidnapping, and burglary and sentenced to life in prison
- The prosecution’s case rested largely on the victim’s identification of Bain in the photo lineup]]> 2018-10-03 05:40:00 UTC https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288454098 James Bain 35 years late 99018381 https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288455081 2018-10-03 05:46:17 UTC https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288455081 James Bain Speech for Innocence Project 99018381 https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288455191 2018-10-03 05:47:04 UTC https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288455191 James Bain Exoneration 99018381 https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288455315 2018-10-03 05:47:53 UTC https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288455315 Escorted out of Courthouse 99018381 https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288455564 2018-10-03 05:49:26 UTC https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288455564 Marriage two years after exoneration 99018381 https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288455784 2018-10-03 05:51:05 UTC https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288455784 James Bain Exoneration Video 99018381 https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288456404 2018-10-03 05:54:45 UTC https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288456404 Is it justified? 99018381 https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288456608 - A 2001 Florida statute made it possible for certain cases to be reopened for DNA testing
- Upon hearing this, Bain presented four handwritten motions for the DNA evidence in his case to be tested. In all, the case came before the court five times and was denied all five times
- With the aid of the Innocence Project of Florida and Tenth Judicial Circuit Public Defender Bob Young, Bain was finally granted access to post-conviction DNA testing
- This testing excluded Bain as the source of the DNA
- On December 17, 2009, a judge signed the order releasing Bain from prison after 35 years
- Bain was offered 1.75 million dollars for his time served in prison
- Bain's exoneration is legally justified. Not only was he convicted falsely, and irresponsibly as his blood samples by today's standards would have cleared him, his DNA also clears him completely of the crime
- Morally, the amount offered is regarded as low, but his freedom is fully justified under the law.]]> 2018-10-03 05:56:04 UTC https://padlet.com/99018381/z24y9tw2u30e/wish/288456608