Leonard M. Kirkes

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Charge:	Second Degree Murder
Sentence:	5 years to life imprisonment
Years Imprisoned:	3
Year Crime:	1942
Year Convicted:	1951
Year Cleared:	1953
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	California
County or Region of Crime:	Santa Barbara
City of Crime:	Santa Barbara
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Leonard M. Kirkes was wrongly convicted in 1951 of second-degree murder in the death of 20-year-old Margaret Senteney in 1942 in Santa Barbara County, California. Leonard Kirkes was a California Highway Patrolman. Kirkes' prosecution was based on circumstantial evidence and the testimony of an eyewitness who testified she saw Senteney get into Kirkes' car on the night she was murdered. Kirkes conviction was overturned on appeal. The eyewitness didn't testify at his retrial because she had been committed to a mental institution, and the doctors stated she was mentally ill prior to Kirkes first trial. Kirkes was acquitted by the jury after his retrial in 1953."
Conviction Caused By:	Testimony of a mentally unstable prosecution witness.
Innocence Proved By:	Kirkes was acquitted by the jury after his retrial in 1953.
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Was Perpetrator Identified?
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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. 135."
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Leonard M. Kirkes

Charge:

Second Degree Murder

Sentence:

5 years to life imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

3

Year Crime:

1942

Year Convicted:

1951

Year Cleared:

1953

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

California

County or Region of Crime:

Santa Barbara

City of Crime:

Santa Barbara

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Testimony of a mentally unstable prosecution witness.

Innocence Proved By:

Kirkes was acquitted by the jury after his retrial in 1953.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

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. 135."

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