Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

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Joseph Barbato

 

Charge:

First Degree Murder

Sentence:

Death

Years Imprisoned:

2.17

Year Crime:

1928

Year Convicted:

1929

Year Cleared:

1930

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

New York

County or Region of Crime:

Bronx

City of Crime:

New York City

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

"Joseph Barbato was wrongly convicted after a three week trial on December 27, 1929 of first-degree murder in the death of his common law wife Julia Masso Quintieri on September 15, 1928 in the Bronx, New York. Barbato's conviction was based on his 4-word confession that he recanted as coerced. The 37-year-old Barbato was sentenced to death. On July 8, 1930 the New York Court of Appeals reversed Barbato's conviction and ordered a new trial based on evidence his 4-word confession was coerced. Barbato was moved from Sing Sing's death row where he had been for six months. On November 26, 1930 Barbato was released on his own recognizance with the agreement of the Bronx District Attorney, and the charges were subsequently dismsised due to a lack of evidence. without his confession "

Conviction Caused By:

False confession was coerced by the police.

Innocence Proved By:

Barbato's conviction was reversed and he was released in 1930 with the agreement of the prosecution after evidence showed his 4-word confession was coerced.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

36

Age When Released:

38

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 95."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"Guilty of Killing Wife, The New York Times, December 27, 1929, pg. 48"

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

"Once Doomed To Die, Freed, The New York Times, November 27, 1930, pg. 27"

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