Lena Baker

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Charge:	First Degree Murder
Sentence:	Death and Executed
Years Imprisoned:
Year Crime:	1944
Year Convicted:	1944
Year Cleared:	1945
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Georgia
County or Region of Crime:	Randolph
City of Crime:	Cuthbert
Result:	Pardoned Posthumously After Execution
Summary of Case:	"Lena Baker was wrongly convicted in 1944 of the first degree murder of a man in Cuthbert, Georgia who was accidentally shot with his own gun while he was attempting to rape her. Baker was a black woman tried by an all white jury presided over by a white judge and prosecuted by a white prosecutor, with all the prosecution witnesses also white. Four hours passed from the beginning of jury selection to her finding of guilt, to her sentence of death. Her trial transcript was 10 pages long. Lena Baker was executed on March 5, 1945. Her attacker's accidental death was at most a case of self-defense, so the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles posthumously pardoned Baker on August 30, 2005. Baker was the only woman to be executed by electrocution in Georgia."
Conviction Caused By:
Innocence Proved By:	"The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles posthumously pardoned Baker on August 30, 2005."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	43
Age When Released:	44
Sex:	Female
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	"The Lena Baker Story, Lela Bond Phillips, The Black Commentator, Issue 40, May 1, 2003"
Information Location 1:	http://www.blackcommentator.com/40/40_guest_commentary.html
Information Source 2:	"The Lena Baker Story, Lela Bond Phillips, Wings Publishers, 2001"
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Lena Baker

Charge:

First Degree Murder

Sentence:

Death and Executed

Years Imprisoned:

Year Crime:

1944

Year Convicted:

1944

Year Cleared:

1945

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Georgia

County or Region of Crime:

Randolph

City of Crime:

Cuthbert

Result:

Pardoned Posthumously After Execution

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

"The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles posthumously pardoned Baker on August 30, 2005."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

43

Age When Released:

44

Sex:

Female

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"The Lena Baker Story, Lela Bond Phillips, The Black Commentator, Issue 40, May 1, 2003"

Information Location 1:

http://www.blackcommentator.com/40/40_guest_commentary.html

Information Source 2:

"The Lena Baker Story, Lela Bond Phillips, Wings Publishers, 2001"

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Book About Case (2):

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Movie About Case:

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