Joseph Briggs

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Charge:	First Degree Murder
Sentence:	Death
Years Imprisoned:	1.5
Year Crime:	1904
Year Convicted:	1905
Year Cleared:	1906
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Illinois
County or Region of Crime:	Cook
City of Crime:	Chicago
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Joseph Briggs was wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to death for a murder committed in Chicago, Illinois on September 12, 1904. His conviction was based on his erroneous identification by one person as the murderer of a shop keeper, and a store customer who said she saw him in the store the day before the murder. No physical evidence linked Briggs to the crime, and several people testified Briggs was with them in a saloon at the time of the murder. Briggs conviction was reversed by the IllinoisSupreme Court in December 1905 based on the trial judge's error of refusing to allow Briggs to present defense evidence impeaching the credibility of the prosecution witnesses. Briggs was acquitted after a retrial."
Conviction Caused By:	Erroneous eyewitness testimony
Innocence Proved By:	Conviction reversed by the IL Sup. Ct. and acquitted after a retrial.
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
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. 99+."
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Information Source 2:	"Briggs v. People, 219 Ill. 330 "
Information Location 2:
Information Source 3:	NW School of Law Center on Wrongful Convictions
Information Location 3:	http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/exonerations/Briggs-IL.htm
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Joseph Briggs

Charge:

First Degree Murder

Sentence:

Death

Years Imprisoned:

1.5

Year Crime:

1904

Year Convicted:

1905

Year Cleared:

1906

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Illinois

County or Region of Crime:

Cook

City of Crime:

Chicago

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Erroneous eyewitness testimony

Innocence Proved By:

Conviction reversed by the IL Sup. Ct. and acquitted after a retrial.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

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. 99+."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"Briggs v. People, 219 Ill. 330 "

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

NW School of Law Center on Wrongful Convictions

Information Location 3:

http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/exonerations/Briggs-IL.htm

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: