Walter E. Evans

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Charge:	Bribery (including public corruption)
Sentence:
Years Imprisoned:	0.5
Year Crime:	1928
Year Convicted:	1929
Year Cleared:	1931
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	California
County or Region of Crime:	Los Angeles
City of Crime:	Los Angeles
Result:	Pardoned
Summary of Case:	"Walter E. Evans and Miles H. Ledbetter were codefendants and Los Angeles, California police officers wrongly convicted on November 7, 1929 of taking bribes to prevent prosecutions of people receiving stolen property. The prosecution of Walter Evans and Miles Ledbetter was based on the testimony of a couple involved in the theft of diamonds and their maid. They began serving their sentences on July 2, 1930 after their appeals were denied and a motion for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence was denied. A post-conviction investigation by the police determined the three witnesses against Evans and Ledbetter was wilfully false. Based on the new evidence of their innocence, the Los Angeles County District Attorney Theodore C. McKenna and the California State Advisory Pardon Board recommended the pardoning of Evans and Ledbetter. California Governor C. C. Young granted them unconditional pardons on January 5, 1931, and they were released from prison after six months in custody. D. A. McKenna filed petitions with the California State Board of Control to indemnify Evans and Ledbetter under California's 1913 wrongful imprisonment compensation statute. The Board recommended that compensation to Evans of $4,533.36 and Ledbetter of $3,313.39, which the legislature subsequently approved and it was signed by the governnor in 1932."
Conviction Caused By:	Perjury by the prosecution's three eyewitnesses.
Innocence Proved By:	"Based on the new evidence of their innocence, the Los Angeles County District Attorney Theodore C. McKenna and the California State Advisory Pardon Board recommended the pardoning of Evans and Ledbetter. California Governor C. C. Young granted them unconditional pardons on January 5, 1931, and they were released from prison after six months in custody."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:	"$4,533.36 (State of California, 1932)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:
Age When Released:
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"Convicting the Innocent - Sixty-Five Actual Errors of Criminal Justice, by Edwin Borchard, Yale Univ Press, 1932, pp. 44-46 (Chp. "Evans and Ledbetter")"
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Walter E. Evans

Charge:

Bribery (including public corruption)

Sentence:

Years Imprisoned:

0.5

Year Crime:

1928

Year Convicted:

1929

Year Cleared:

1931

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

California

County or Region of Crime:

Los Angeles

City of Crime:

Los Angeles

Result:

Pardoned

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Perjury by the prosecution's three eyewitnesses.

Innocence Proved By:

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

"$4,533.36 (State of California, 1932)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Convicting the Innocent - Sixty-Five Actual Errors of Criminal Justice, by Edwin Borchard, Yale Univ Press, 1932, pp. 44-46 (Chp. "Evans and Ledbetter")"

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