Vance Hardy

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Charge:	First Degree Murder
Sentence:	Life Imprisonment
Years Imprisoned:	27
Year Crime:	1924
Year Convicted:	1924
Year Cleared:	1951
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Michigan
County or Region of Crime:	Wayne
City of Crime:	Detroit
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Vance Hardy's sister worked for 27 years to prove his innocence of a murder committed in Detroit, Michigan on May 3, 1924. Hardy's conviction was based on a single eyewitness. The jury rejected his alibi defense that at the time the crime he was with his sister Gladys Barrett, in Louisville, Kentucky to attend the Kentucky Derby. Hardy was sentenced to life in prison. In December 1951 Hardy's conviction was set aside based on the recantation by the eyewitness, and he was granted a new trial. The trial judge directed a verdict of acquittal, and the charges were dismissed. Vance Hardy was released after 27 years in prison, with 10 of those years spent in solitary confinement. No compensation was awarded Hardy."
Conviction Caused By:	Erroneous testimony by the prosecution's lone eyewitness.
Innocence Proved By:	Vance Hardy's conviction set aside and the judge directed verdict of acquittal at his retrial. His sister worked for 27 years to free him.
Defendant Aided By:	"Sister worked for 27 years to prove his innocence, and she was aided by author Erle Stanley Gardner and The Court of Last Resort."
Compensation Awarded:	No
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:
Age When Released:
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. 124."
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	"The Innocents, Edward Radin,William Morrow & Co., 1964, p. 246."
Information Location 2:
Information Source 3:	"The Court of Last Resort, By Erle Stanley Gardner (William Sloane Associates, 1952), pgs. 183-214"
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Vance Hardy

Charge:

First Degree Murder

Sentence:

Life Imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

27

Year Crime:

1924

Year Convicted:

1924

Year Cleared:

1951

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Michigan

County or Region of Crime:

Wayne

City of Crime:

Detroit

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Erroneous testimony by the prosecution's lone eyewitness.

Innocence Proved By:

Vance Hardy's conviction set aside and the judge directed verdict of acquittal at his retrial. His sister worked for 27 years to free him.

Defendant Aided By:

"Sister worked for 27 years to prove his innocence, and she was aided by author Erle Stanley Gardner and The Court of Last Resort."

Compensation Awarded:

No

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

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. 124."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"The Innocents, Edward Radin,William Morrow & Co., 1964, p. 246."

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

"The Court of Last Resort, By Erle Stanley Gardner (William Sloane Associates, 1952), pgs. 183-214"

Information Location 3:

Information Source 4:

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: