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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Driving Related misdemeanor |
Sentence: |
Fine |
Years Imprisoned: |
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Year Crime: |
1954 |
Year Convicted: |
1954 |
Year Cleared: |
1955 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
New York |
County or Region of Crime: |
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City of Crime: |
New York City |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Walter C. Hildebrandt was wrongly convicted in 1954 of exceeding the speed limit in New York City. Hildebrandt's defense was that he wasn't operating the vehicle that was registered to him, at the time a police officer used a "phototraffic camera" to take pictures of his vehicle exceeding the speed limit. The trial judge agreed with the prosecution's argument that there was a "presumption" that he was driving the vehicle because it was registered to him. After his conviction Hildebrandt was fined. Hildebrandt appealed, and his conviction was affirmed by the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division. The New York Court of Appeals granted review of Hildebrandt's case. On April 14, 1955 the appeals court reversed Hildebrandt's conviction and ordered dismissal of the information charging him on the basis the prosecution failed to introduce sufficient evidence proving beyond a reasonable doubt that he was operating the vehicle registered to him at the time a police officer took "phototraffic camera" of his vehicle exceeding the speed limit. The Court's precedential ruling stated: "Speeding in an automobile is personal, individual wrongdoing, which can subject the wrongdoer to serious penalties (for the first offense a fine up to $100 and imprisonment for as long as a month [Vehicle and Traffic Law, § 70, subd. 4], and, if the conviction be the third in an eighteen-month period, mandatory revocation of the driving license [Vehicle and Traffic Law, § 71, subd. 2, par (c)]). Such "traffic infractions" are of the grade of "offenses", not felonies or misdemeanors, but they are tried like misdemeanors (Vehicle and Traffic Law, § 2, subd. 29, supra) and to them, as to "offenses", there should be applicable the criminal-law rules of presumption of innocence and necessity of proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." (People v. Hildebrandt, 308 NY 397, 400-401 (NY Court of Appeals 1955))" |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On April 14, 1955 the New York Court of Appeals reversed Hildebrandt's conviction and ordered dismissal of the information charging him in a precedential ruling that was based on the prosecution failure to introduce sufficient evidence proving beyond a reasonable doubt that he was operating the vehicle registered to him at the time a police officer took photos with a "phototraffic camera" of his vehicle exceeding the speed limit." |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
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Sex: |
Male |
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Information Source 1: |
"People v. Hildebrandt, 308 NY 397 (NY Court of Appeals 1955) (Conviction reversed and information ordered dismissed on the basis the prosecution failed to introduce sufficient evidence that Hildebrandt was operating the vehicle registered to him at the time a police officer took "phototraffic camera" of his vehicle exceeding the speed limit.)" |
Information Location 1: |
"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=18345614553683891963&q=2015+insufficient+evidence&hl=en&as_sdt=4,33" |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org