Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

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Felix Dennis

 

Charge:

Obsenity Related Charge

Sentence:

10 months

Years Imprisoned:

0.08

Year Crime:

1970

Year Convicted:

1971

Year Cleared:

1973

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

United Kingdom

County or Region of Crime:

England

City of Crime:

London

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

"Richard Neville, Felix Dennis and Jim Anderson, dubbed by the English media as the 'OZ Three', were wrongly convicted of obscenity charges in 1971 related to OZ magazine issue 28 that was produced in London. Their six week trial was at that time the longest obscenity trial in English legal history. Neville represented himself. While the three were acquitted by the jury of "conspiracy to corrupt public morals" — that could have resulted in life sentences, they were convicted of obscenity charges related to mailing the magazine through the Royal Mail. Their convictions were overturned in 1973 based on the trial judges egregious misdirecting of the jury in his instructions, and police intimidation of a key witness. They were not retried. Richard Neville had previously been convicted of obscenity charges in 1964 in Australia related to OZ magazine, which were also overturned on appeal. Neville is the only known person to be wrongly convicted and exonerated on two continents."

Conviction Caused By:

Errors by the trial judge and police intimidation of a key prosecution witness.

Innocence Proved By:

"Their convictions were overturned in 1973 based on the trial judges egregious misdirecting of the jury in his instructions, and police intimidation of a key witness."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

24

Age When Released:

24

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"OZ (magazine), Wikipedia.org (last visited 7-10-2014)"

Information Location 1:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oz_%28magazine%29

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

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