Leonard Clifton Hankins

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Charge:	First Degree Murder
Sentence:	Life Imprisonment
Years Imprisoned:	20
Year Crime:	1932
Year Convicted:	1933
Year Cleared:	1953
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Minnesota
County or Region of Crime:	Hennepin
City of Crime:	Minneapolis
Result:	Pardoned
Summary of Case:	"Leonard Clifton Hankins (aka Owen Lewis) was wrongly convicted in 1933 of first-degree murder in the shooting death of two policemen and a passerby during a bank robbery in Minneapolis, Minnesota on December 16, 1932. Leonard Hankins was 36 when he was arrested after walking into a rooming house where one of the bank robbers had been seized. During Hankins' trial his codefendant who pleaded guilty testified Hankins was not involved in the robbery, one eyewitness to the robbery absolutely said Hankins wasn't the man who had stood guard outside the bank, while several others said he seemed to resemble the lookout man. Hankins testified in his own defense that he was getting a haircut in St. Paul at the time of the robbery, and his testimony was corroborated by a barber who testfied he was giving Hankins a haircut at a time that would have made it impossible for him to have participated in the crime. After the jury found Hankins guilty he was sentenced to life in prison. In 1935 the FBI informed the Minneapolis police that it had arrested Jess Doyle, who confessed to the crimes for which Hankins had been convicted, however, Hankins case wasn't reopened by the authorities because the FBI would not give provide its file on Doyle. Hankins was pardoned and released in November 1951 after almost 19 years in custody. In 1953 Hankins was given a "final unconditional release" based on the evidence of his innocence, and in 1954 the State of Minnesota imndemnified him by the legislature voting to award him a pension of $300 a month for life. Hankins' sister, who had supported her brother during his entire ordeal and spent more than $30,000 trying to overturn his conviction, was reimbursed by the Minnesota State Legislature. Hankins co-authored a book about his ordeal that was published in 1956, "Nineteen Years Not Guilty: Leonard Hankins' Story in His Own Words, As Told To Earl Guy," by Leonard Hankins and Earl Guy (New York: Exposition Press, 1956). Hankins married in 1955, and he died April 20, 1960 in Princeton, Kentucky. Hankins had been paid approximately $19,000 in compensation up to the time of his death."
Conviction Caused By:	Eyewitness error.
Innocence Proved By:	"Hankins was pardoned and released in November 1951 after almost 19 years in custody. In 1953 Hankins was given a "final unconditional release" based on the evidence of his innocence, and imndemnified by the State of Minnesota."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:	$300/month for life granted him by the Minnesota legislature in 1954.
Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
Age When Imprisoned:	36
Age When Released:	56
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 123+."
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	"The Innocents, Edward Radin,William Morrow & Co., 1964, p. 244"
Information Location 2:
Information Source 3:	"The Leonard Hankins Story, www.westernkyhistory.org (last viewed 12-17-2015)"
Information Location 3:	http://westernkyhistory.org/caldwellcemetery/leonard.html
Information Source 4:	"State v. Leonard Hankins, Alias Owen Lewis (Minn. Sup. Ct., February 1, 1935) (Affirming conviction)"
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Information Source 5:
Information Location 5:
Book About Case:	""Nineteen Years Not Guilty: Leonard Hankins' Story in His Own Words, As Told To Earl Guy," by Leonard Hankins and Earl Guy (New York: Exposition Press, 1956)"
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Leonard Clifton Hankins

Charge:

First Degree Murder

Sentence:

Life Imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

20

Year Crime:

1932

Year Convicted:

1933

Year Cleared:

1953

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Minnesota

County or Region of Crime:

Hennepin

City of Crime:

Minneapolis

Result:

Pardoned

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Eyewitness error.

Innocence Proved By:

"Hankins was pardoned and released in November 1951 after almost 19 years in custody. In 1953 Hankins was given a "final unconditional release" based on the evidence of his innocence, and imndemnified by the State of Minnesota."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

$300/month for life granted him by the Minnesota legislature in 1954.

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

36

Age When Released:

56

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 123+."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"The Innocents, Edward Radin,William Morrow & Co., 1964, p. 244"

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

"The Leonard Hankins Story, www.westernkyhistory.org (last viewed 12-17-2015)"

Information Location 3:

http://westernkyhistory.org/caldwellcemetery/leonard.html

Information Source 4:

"State v. Leonard Hankins, Alias Owen Lewis (Minn. Sup. Ct., February 1, 1935) (Affirming conviction)"

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

""Nineteen Years Not Guilty: Leonard Hankins' Story in His Own Words, As Told To Earl Guy," by Leonard Hankins and Earl Guy (New York: Exposition Press, 1956)"

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: