Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Murder Accessory before the crime |
Sentence: |
2 to 21 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
5 |
Year Crime: |
1930 |
Year Convicted: |
1931 |
Year Cleared: |
1993 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Indiana |
County or Region of Crime: |
Grant |
City of Crime: |
Marion |
Result: |
Pardoned |
Summary of Case: |
"James Cameron was a black teenager wrongly convicted in 1931 of being an accessory to the murder of a white man during a botched robbery in Marion, Indiana. The two black teenaged friends of Cameron who actually committed the murder were lynched by a mob. Cameron was initially charged with raping the man's girlfrined, but those charges were dropped when she recanted her rape accusation. After spending a year in jail Cameron was convicted of being an accessory before the murder based on his false confession beat out of him by the police. He was sentenced to serve 2 to 21 years in prison. Sixteen at the time of his arrest, Cameron was released on parole when he was 21 after serving about five years in custody. After his release Cameron married, had five children, and eventually settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he died in 2006 at the age of 92. Cameron was pardoned in 1993 by Indiana Governor Evan Bayh." |
Conviction Caused By: |
False confession was beaten out of James Cameron by the police. |
Innocence Proved By: |
Cameron was pardoned in 1993 by Indiana Governor Evan Bayh. |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
16 |
Age When Released: |
21 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"The Lynching of James Cameron, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, By James Cameron, IDS News, January 12, 2001" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.thehypertexts.com/mysterious_ways/mysterious_ways_lynching_of_james_cameron.htm |
Information Source 2: |
"James Cameron, 92; Lynching Survivor Founded Black Holocaust Museum (Obituary), By Jocelyn Y. Stewart (Times Staff Writer), Los Angeles Times, June 14, 2006" |
Information Location 2: |
http://articles.latimes.com/2006/jun/14/local/me-cameron14 |
Information Source 3: |
"Honoring the life and accomplishments of James Cameron, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, June 14, 2006, 109th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 867" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-109hres867ih/html/BILLS-109hres867ih.htm |
Information Source 4: |
"America's Black Holocaust Museum, Dr. James Cameron, Museum Founder and Lynching Survivor" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.abhmuseum.org/2012/01/dr-james-cameron-museum-founder-and-lynching-survivor/ |
Information Source 5: |
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Information Location 5: |
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Book About Case: |
""A Time of Terror: A Survivor's Story," James Cameron, Black Classic Press (December 1993)" |
Book Information: |
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Book About Case (2): |
""A Time of Terror: The true story by the third victim of this lynching in the North who missed his appointment with death," James Cameron, Self-published (1982)" |
Book Information (2): |
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Movie About Case: |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org