Jerry Banks

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Charge:	First Degree Murder
Sentence:	Death
Years Imprisoned:	6.12
Year Crime:	1974
Year Convicted:	1975
Year Cleared:	1980
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Georgia
County or Region of Crime:	Henry
City of Crime:	McDonough
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Jerry Banks was wrongly convicted of murder twice and sentenced to death for a double shooting murder committed in Henry County, Georgia on November 7, 1974. Banks prosecution was based wholly on circumstantial evidence because there was no physical, eyewitness, or confession evidence linking him to the crime. Banks' prosecution as based on the fact that he flagged down a motorist and said that while deer hunting he found two bodies in the woods. Banks was first convicted in January 1975 and sentenced to death on January 31, 1975. In 1975 the Georgia Supreme Court by a 6 to 1 vote reversed Bank's convictions because the prosecution committed the Brady v Maryland (1962) violation of failing to disclose to Banks' lawyer the name of the motorist he flagged down. After Banks' second trial he was convicted on November 18, 1975, and again sentenced to death. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Banks' conviction and death sentence on July 13, 1976. While Banks was on death row a post-conviction investigation discovered new witness and ballistic expert evidence. The trial judge denied Banks' motion for a new trial based on the new evidence. On June 9, 1980 the Georgia Supreme Court reversed the trial court's denial and revesed Banks' convictions in grant his motion for a new trial. The Henry County District Attorney declined to retry Banks. On December 22, 1980 the DA's motion to dismiss the charges against Banks was granted and he was immediately released after six years and 6 weeks in custody. On March 30, 1981 -- three months after his release -- Banks shot and wounded his estranged wife and fatally shot himslf in the front yard of his wife. Shortly after Banks' release his wife told him that she wanted a divorce. Banks pled with his wife not to divorce him shortly before shooting her and himself."
Conviction Caused By:	Prosecutorial misconduct by the concealment of evidence.
Innocence Proved By:	"On June 9, 1980 the Georgia Supreme Court reversed the trial court's denial and revesed Banks' convictions in grant his motion for a new trial. The Henry County District Attorney declined to retry Banks. On December 22, 1980 the DA's motion to dismiss the charges against Banks was granted and he was immediately released after six years and 6 weeks in custody."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	23
Age When Released:	29
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	"“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 94+."
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	Death Penalty Information Center
Information Location 2:	http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/Innocentlist.html
Information Source 3:	"Banks v. State, 268 S,.E.2d 230 (Ga.1980)"
Information Location 3:
Information Source 4:	"Banks v. State, 227 SE 2d 380 (Ga. Supreme Ct, 7-13-1976) (Affirming convictions and death sentence.)"
Information Location 4:	"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3137370599654871640&q=Jerry+Banks+georgia&hl=en&as_sdt=6,48"
Information Source 5:	"Jerry Banks, who spent six years on death row, By UPI (McDonough, Ga), UPI.com, March 30, 1981"
Information Location 5:	http://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/03/30/Jerry-Banks-who-spent-six-years-on-death-row/6498354776400/
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Jerry Banks

Charge:

First Degree Murder

Sentence:

Death

Years Imprisoned:

6.12

Year Crime:

1974

Year Convicted:

1975

Year Cleared:

1980

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Georgia

County or Region of Crime:

Henry

City of Crime:

McDonough

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Prosecutorial misconduct by the concealment of evidence.

Innocence Proved By:

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

23

Age When Released:

29

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 94+."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

Death Penalty Information Center

Information Location 2:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/Innocentlist.html

Information Source 3:

"Banks v. State, 268 S,.E.2d 230 (Ga.1980)"

Information Location 3:

Information Source 4:

"Banks v. State, 227 SE 2d 380 (Ga. Supreme Ct, 7-13-1976) (Affirming convictions and death sentence.)"

Information Location 4:

"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3137370599654871640&q=Jerry+Banks+georgia&hl=en&as_sdt=6,48"

Information Source 5:

"Jerry Banks, who spent six years on death row, By UPI (McDonough, Ga), UPI.com, March 30, 1981"

Information Location 5:

http://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/03/30/Jerry-Banks-who-spent-six-years-on-death-row/6498354776400/

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