Jean Calas

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Charge:	Murder
Sentence:	Death and Executed
Years Imprisoned:
Year Crime:
Year Convicted:	1762
Year Cleared:	1765
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	France
County or Region of Crime:
City of Crime:
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Posthumously after Execution
Summary of Case:	"Wrongly convicted on March 9, 1762 of murdering his son by hanging him. 63-year-old Jean Calsas was executed later the same day he was convicted by being strangled and burned. Calas had been horrifically tortured in an effort to extract a confession, but he did not confess. Voltaire took up the cause of finding evidence to prove Calas was innocent. On June 4, 1764, France's Great Council annulled Calas' judgment of guilt. On March 9, 1765, Calas was acquitted after a retrial, and his son's death was officially ruled a suicide. After the decision was announced, Voltaire wrote, "This is an event that seems to allow one to hope for universal tolerance." At the time Voltaire was 71-years-old. After making an application to the King, Madame Calas was awarded 12,000 livres, his two daughters were each awarded 6,000 livres, 3,000 livres was awarded to each of his sons and the Calas’ housekeeper, and 6,000 livers was awarded to the family to cover legal expenses. One thousand livres was equal to 10.8 ounces of gold, so these were very significant sums in 1765 given the generally low standard of living in France."
Conviction Caused By:
Innocence Proved By:	"On March 9, 1765, Calas was acquitted after a retrial, and his son's death was officially ruled a suicide."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:	"33,000 livres to heirs and a housekeeper"
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:
Age When Released:
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"Did Biased Judges Condemn Innocent Man?, Matthew Surridge, Old News, April 2006, pp 10-12."
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	"Voltaire – Father Of The Innocence Campaign, By Hans Sherrer, Justice Denied magazine, Issue 35, Winter 2007, 29-30"
Information Location 2:	http://justicedenied.org/issue/issue_35/jd_issue_35.pdf
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Jean Calas

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

Death and Executed

Years Imprisoned:

Year Crime:

Year Convicted:

1762

Year Cleared:

1765

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

France

County or Region of Crime:

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Posthumously after Execution

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

"On March 9, 1765, Calas was acquitted after a retrial, and his son's death was officially ruled a suicide."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

"33,000 livres to heirs and a housekeeper"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Did Biased Judges Condemn Innocent Man?, Matthew Surridge, Old News, April 2006, pp 10-12."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"Voltaire – Father Of The Innocence Campaign, By Hans Sherrer, Justice Denied magazine, Issue 35, Winter 2007, 29-30"

Information Location 2:

http://justicedenied.org/issue/issue_35/jd_issue_35.pdf

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Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: