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Wrongly
Convicted Database
Record
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Years
Imprisoned:
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Charge: |
First Degree Murder |
Sentence: |
Death |
Year Convicted: |
1944 |
Year
Cleared:
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1945 |
Location
of Trial:
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Georgia |
Result:
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Pardoned After Execution |
Summary
of Case:
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"Wrongly convicted in 1944 of the first degree murder of a man who was accidentally shot with his own gun while he was attempting to rape Lena Baker. She 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." |
Conviction
Caused By:
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Innocence
Proved By:
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"The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles posthumously pardoned Baker on August 30, 2005."
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Defendant
Aided By:
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Found? |
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Age
When Imprisoned:
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43 |
Age
When Released:
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44 |
Information Source 1: |
"The Lena Baker Story, Lela Bond Phillips, The Black Commentator, Issue 40, May 1, 2003" |
Information
Location 1:
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http://www.blackcommentator.com/40/40_guest_commentary.html |
Information
Source 2:
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"The Lena Baker Story, Lela Bond Phillips, Wings Publishers, 2001" |
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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Black |
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: |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org