James Halligan

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Charge:	Murder
Sentence:	Death and Executed
Years Imprisoned:
Year Crime:	1805
Year Convicted:	1806
Year Cleared:	1984
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Massachusetts
County or Region of Crime:	Hampden
City of Crime:	Wilbraham
Result:	Pardoned Posthumously After Execution
Summary of Case:	"James Halligan was codefendant of Dominic Daley aka Dominic Daly. Daley and Halligan were wrongly convicted on April 24, 1806 of the November 1805 murder of Marcus Lyon, who was robbed and killed while traveling on the Boston Post Road headed for New York, as were Halligan and Dominic Daley. Lyon's body was found on November 10, 1805 in a stream near Springfield, Massachusetts with a head wound and a bullet wound in his chest. The two Irishmen denied committing the crime, but they were arrested and accused of the murder. After spending five months in jail, and only two days before their trial was scheduled to begin they were allowed to meet with their lawyer. There was a strong anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant sentiment in Massachusetts. The trial lasted one day, after which the jury found the men guilty. They were sentenced the next day, April 25, to be hanged. They were executed on June 5, 1806 before an estimated crowd of 15,000 people. In response to a petition seeking executive clemency, in March 1984 Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation concerning Halligan and Daley that stated: "the historical record shows that religious prejudice and ethnic intolerance played a significant role in their arrest and trial, which resulted in the denial of their rights of due process and a miscarriage of justice . . . [A]ny stigma and disgrace associated with their names as a result of their conviction is hereby removed.""
Conviction Caused By:	"Religious and ethnic intolerance, failure of the prosecution to allow defense attorney Francis Blake time to prepare a defense, and the judge's failure to allow the two defendant's to enlist witnesses."
Innocence Proved By:	In 1984 Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis granted a full pardon to both Halligan and Daley.
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:
Age When Released:
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"The Garden of Martyrs, By Michael C. White (St. Martin's Press 2005) "
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	The Garden of Martyrs: Author Interview with Michael C. White
Information Location 2:	http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/mcwhite/interviews.htm
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Book About Case:	"The Garden of Martyrs, By Michael C. White (St. Martin's Press 2005) "
Book Information:
Book About Case (2):
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Movie About Case:
Comments About Case:

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James Halligan

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

Death and Executed

Years Imprisoned:

Year Crime:

1805

Year Convicted:

1806

Year Cleared:

1984

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Massachusetts

County or Region of Crime:

Hampden

City of Crime:

Wilbraham

Result:

Pardoned Posthumously After Execution

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

"Religious and ethnic intolerance, failure of the prosecution to allow defense attorney Francis Blake time to prepare a defense, and the judge's failure to allow the two defendant's to enlist witnesses."

Innocence Proved By:

In 1984 Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis granted a full pardon to both Halligan and Daley.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"The Garden of Martyrs, By Michael C. White (St. Martin's Press 2005) "

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

The Garden of Martyrs: Author Interview with Michael C. White

Information Location 2:

http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/mcwhite/interviews.htm

Information Source 3:

Information Location 3:

Information Source 4:

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

"The Garden of Martyrs, By Michael C. White (St. Martin's Press 2005) "

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: