Adolf Beck (1904 conviction)

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Charge:	"Fraud (passing bad checks, documents, casino, bankrupcy, etc.)"
Sentence:	Exonerated After Conviction But Prior to Sentencing
Years Imprisoned:	0.5
Year Crime:	1904
Year Convicted:	1904
Year Cleared:	1904
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	United Kingdom
County or Region of Crime:	England
City of Crime:	London
Result:	Pardoned
Summary of Case:	"Adolph Beck was twice wrongly convicted of check fraud in separate cases, first on March 5, 1896, and again in June 1904, based on his mistaken identification by several people each time as John Smith, the man who had swindled them. At Adolf Beck's first trial a handwriting expert testified that Mr. Beck's handwriting matched the swindlers. Mr. Smith had previously been convicted of swindling in 1877 and imprisoned. Mr. Beck's solicitor failed to clear his client with clear proof he had been in South America when Mr. Smith was imprisoned in 1877, and therefore he couldn't be the swindler. Beck served 5 years 4 months in prison after the 1896 conviction before his parole in 1901. After his 1904 wrongful conviction a man called Thomas was arrested on similar charges. After seeing Thomas, the women who had testified against Beck realized he wasn't the man who had defrauded them, but he merely resembled Thomas, who was actually John Smith. It was determined that Thomas had committed all the crimes Beck had been convicted of, and he was the John Smith convicted in 1877. On July 29, 1904 King Edward VII granted Beck a full pardon and in September 1904 he was awarded £2,000 pounds in ex gratia compensation for having been wrongly convicted twice, and spending a total of over 5 years and 4 months wrongly imprisoned. Beck's compensation was raised to £5,000 due to public clamor. As a result of Beck's case, the United Kingdom created a Criminal Court of Appeals to review convictions. Beck died on December 7, 1909 at the age of 68."
Conviction Caused By:	"False identification by "eyewitness" victims"
Innocence Proved By:	"Eyewitnesses recanted identification when confronted with actual criminal. Granted a "free pardon" by England's Home Secretary in 1904."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:	"£5,000"
Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
Age When Imprisoned:	63
Age When Released:	63
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"How To Solve A Murder: The Forensic Handbook," Michael Kurland, MacMillian, 1995, p. 115-116."
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	""The Sins of our forebears," James Morton (solicitor and former editor of the New Law Journal), 2001, from seminar given at the Inns of Court School of Law in October 2001."
Information Location 2:	http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/peter.hill/nichol.htm
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Book About Case:	""The Sins of our forebears," James Morton (solicitor and former editor of the New Law Journal), 2001, from seminar given at the Inns of Court School of Law in October 2001."
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Book Information (2):
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Adolf Beck (1904 conviction)

Charge:

"Fraud (passing bad checks, documents, casino, bankrupcy, etc.)"

Sentence:

Exonerated After Conviction But Prior to Sentencing

Years Imprisoned:

0.5

Year Crime:

1904

Year Convicted:

1904

Year Cleared:

1904

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

United Kingdom

County or Region of Crime:

England

City of Crime:

London

Result:

Pardoned

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

"False identification by "eyewitness" victims"

Innocence Proved By:

"Eyewitnesses recanted identification when confronted with actual criminal. Granted a "free pardon" by England's Home Secretary in 1904."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

"£5,000"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

63

Age When Released:

63

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"How To Solve A Murder: The Forensic Handbook," Michael Kurland, MacMillian, 1995, p. 115-116."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

""The Sins of our forebears," James Morton (solicitor and former editor of the New Law Journal), 2001, from seminar given at the Inns of Court School of Law in October 2001."

Information Location 2:

http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/peter.hill/nichol.htm

Information Source 3:

Information Location 3:

Information Source 4:

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

""The Sins of our forebears," James Morton (solicitor and former editor of the New Law Journal), 2001, from seminar given at the Inns of Court School of Law in October 2001."

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: