Paula Gray

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Charge:	"Murder, Rape and Robbery"
Sentence:	50 years
Years Imprisoned:	8
Year Crime:	1978
Year Convicted:	1979
Year Cleared:	1996
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Illinois
County or Region of Crime:	Cook
City of Crime:	Ford Heights
Result:	Judicially Exonerated and Later Pardoned
Summary of Case:	"Paula Gray was wrongly convicted of murder, rape and robbery based on her false confession to the same crimes that the Ford Heights Four were convicted of. Her mental state made her highly susceptible to being induced to falsely confess to a crime she knew nothing about and implicate four innocent men (Ford Heights Four) at the same time. Her 1978 Presentence Investigation Report stated that at age 17 she had an IQ of 64 and she couldn't read, write or tell time. Paul Gray was also separately convicted of perjury in 1987 for recanting her testimony against the Ford Heights Four. Her perjury conviction was overturned in July 2001 by Cook County Circuit Court Judge William O'Neal. Gray was pardoned by Illinois Governor George Ryan on November 14, 2002, and that qualified her for a payment of at least $100,000 for her wrongful imprisonment. Gray filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Cook County that the Cook County Board agreed to settle for $4 million on December 18, 2008."
Conviction Caused By:	False confession contributed to her conviction and that of the Ford Heights Four
Innocence Proved By:	Post-conviction DNA testing.
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:	"$4.1 mil. $4 mil. (Cook County, Dec 2008) and $100,000 (State of Illinois, 2003)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
Age When Imprisoned:	17
Age When Released:	25
Sex:	Female
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	Supreme Court of Illinois 652 N.E. 2d 278: 1995
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	Northwestern School of Law Center on Wrongful Convictions database
Information Location 2:	http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/exonerations/Gray.htm
Information Source 3:	Innocence Project database
Information Location 3:	http://www.innocenceproject.org/case/display_profile.php?id=123
Information Source 4:	"Ford Heights 4 Figure Pardoned: Woman surprised by Ryan action, By Douglas Holt and Steve Mills (Tribune staff reporters), Chicago Tribune, November 15, 2002"
Information Location 4:	http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-11-15/news/0211150398_1_convictions-carol-schmal-perjury
Information Source 5:
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Paula Gray

Charge:

"Murder, Rape and Robbery"

Sentence:

50 years

Years Imprisoned:

8

Year Crime:

1978

Year Convicted:

1979

Year Cleared:

1996

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Illinois

County or Region of Crime:

Cook

City of Crime:

Ford Heights

Result:

Judicially Exonerated and Later Pardoned

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

False confession contributed to her conviction and that of the Ford Heights Four

Innocence Proved By:

Post-conviction DNA testing.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

"$4.1 mil. $4 mil. (Cook County, Dec 2008) and $100,000 (State of Illinois, 2003)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

17

Age When Released:

25

Sex:

Female

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

Supreme Court of Illinois 652 N.E. 2d 278: 1995

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

Northwestern School of Law Center on Wrongful Convictions database

Information Location 2:

http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/exonerations/Gray.htm

Information Source 3:

Innocence Project database

Information Location 3:

http://www.innocenceproject.org/case/display_profile.php?id=123

Information Source 4:

"Ford Heights 4 Figure Pardoned: Woman surprised by Ryan action, By Douglas Holt and Steve Mills (Tribune staff reporters), Chicago Tribune, November 15, 2002"

Information Location 4:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-11-15/news/0211150398_1_convictions-carol-schmal-perjury

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: