Roy Eaton

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Charge:	Robbery (includes armed robbery)
Sentence:	1 year to life imprisonment
Years Imprisoned:	16
Year Crime:	1938
Year Convicted:	1940
Year Cleared:	1956
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Illinois
County or Region of Crime:	Rock Island
City of Crime:	Rock Island
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Roy Eaton was wrongly convicted in 1940 of robbery in Rock Island, Illinois that neted $50 based on eyewitness testimony by three people. The jury rejected Roy Eaton alibi that at the time of the robbery he was 1450 miles away working in Lordsburg, New Mexico, and that he had never been in Rock Island in his life. Eaton was sentenced to 1 year to life in prison. In April 1956 the actual robber confessed. Eaton's conviction was overturned and he was released after 16 years imprisonment. Eaton was paid compensation of $250,000 by the State of Illinois."
Conviction Caused By:	Eyewitness error by three witnesses who identified him as one of the holdup men 18 months after the robbery.
Innocence Proved By:	"Alibi witnesses who could establish Eaton was elsewhere at the time of the robbery, were in New Mexico at the time of the trial and Eaton couldn't afford to pay their way to Illinois. Conviction set aside and indictment dismissed after the actual culprit confessed."
Defendant Aided By:	Attorney Robert J. Gorman
Compensation Awarded:	"$250,000 (Sate of Illinois, 1957)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
Age When Imprisoned:	36
Age When Released:	52
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:
Information Source 1:	"''Not Guilty," Judge Jerome Frank and Barbara Frank, Doubleday, NY, 1957, p. 194"
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	"The Innocents, Edward Radin,William Morrow & Co., 1964, p. 249"
Information Location 2:
Information Source 3:	"The Case Of Prisoner No. 16688, By John Kobler, Saturday Evening Post, July 14, 1956"
Information Location 3:	http://www.gormangrp.com/Saturday_Evening_Post_1956_Prisoner_16688.pdf
Information Source 4:	"The Lost Years, no byline, The Strait Times (Singapore), April 6, 1956"
Information Location 4:	http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19560406.2.9.aspx
Information Source 5:
Information Location 5:
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Roy Eaton

Charge:

Robbery (includes armed robbery)

Sentence:

1 year to life imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

16

Year Crime:

1938

Year Convicted:

1940

Year Cleared:

1956

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Illinois

County or Region of Crime:

Rock Island

City of Crime:

Rock Island

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Eyewitness error by three witnesses who identified him as one of the holdup men 18 months after the robbery.

Innocence Proved By:

"Alibi witnesses who could establish Eaton was elsewhere at the time of the robbery, were in New Mexico at the time of the trial and Eaton couldn't afford to pay their way to Illinois. Conviction set aside and indictment dismissed after the actual culprit confessed."

Defendant Aided By:

Attorney Robert J. Gorman

Compensation Awarded:

"$250,000 (Sate of Illinois, 1957)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

36

Age When Released:

52

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Information Source 1:

"''Not Guilty," Judge Jerome Frank and Barbara Frank, Doubleday, NY, 1957, p. 194"

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"The Innocents, Edward Radin,William Morrow & Co., 1964, p. 249"

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

"The Case Of Prisoner No. 16688, By John Kobler, Saturday Evening Post, July 14, 1956"

Information Location 3:

http://www.gormangrp.com/Saturday_Evening_Post_1956_Prisoner_16688.pdf

Information Source 4:

"The Lost Years, no byline, The Strait Times (Singapore), April 6, 1956"

Information Location 4:

http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19560406.2.9.aspx

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: