Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

Go to Database Search Page

Go to  Database Index Page

George Harland Bilger

 

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

Life Imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

4

Year Crime:

1936

Year Convicted:

1939

Year Cleared:

1941

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Pennsylvania

County or Region of Crime:

Philadelphia

City of Crime:

Philadelphia

Result:

Pardoned

Summary of Case:

"George Harland Bilger was a defendant in same case as Rudolph Sheeler, but they were charged and tried at different times. George Bilger was a mentally slow, 19-year-old who falsely confessed under police pressure to murdering a policeman. During his trial, two eyewitnesses identified him as the man who had held them up. After his conviction and the jury's recommendation for his execution, George Bilger agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of life in prison. The actual murderer was later picked up with the murder weapon, and Bilger was pardoned in 1941."

Conviction Caused By:

"False confession to murdering a policeman, and erroneously identified by two eyewitnesses."

Innocence Proved By:

Actual murderer was found with the murder weapon of Patrolman Morrow. He was killed resisting arrest.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

No

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

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. 97+."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"The Innocents, Edward Radin,William Morrow & Co., 1964, p. 241-242"

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

Information Location 3:

Information Source 4:

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case:

Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org

Hosted on forejustice.org and mirrored on justicedenied.org .