Gus Colin Langley

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Charge:	First Degree Murder
Sentence:	Death
Years Imprisoned:	4
Year Crime:
Year Convicted:	1932
Year Cleared:	1936
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	North Carolina
County or Region of Crime:	Buncombe
City of Crime:	Asheville
Result:	Pardoned
Summary of Case:	"Gus Colin Langley was arrested several days after the murder of a Asheville, NC gas station attendant solely because a witness said they saw a car with New Jersey plates near the scene, and Langley was driving a car with New Jersey plates. Langley had been living and working in Jersey City, NJ, although he was arrested in Wilmington, NC, 320 miles from Asheville. Langley was convicted of the murder and sentenced to death based on the testimony of a jailhouse informant (a cellmate) who said Langley confessed to him. After the informant testified the unrelated charges against the informant were dropped. There was no other evidence that Langley was in Asheville on the day of the murder. Only 25 minutes before execution, a technicality in the judges imposition of his death sentence enabled his execution to be stopped and his life saved. His head was shaved seven times in preparation for his execution, and he was granted total of six reprieves before it was proven by alibi witnesses that on the day of the murder in Asheville he was 400 miles away. His conviction was vacated and he was released after four years on death row."
Conviction Caused By:	Jailhouse informant falsely testified that Langley confessed.
Innocence Proved By:	It was proved that he was 400 miles away from the location of the murder on the day it happened.
Defendant Aided By:
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. 137+."
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	"The Innocents, Edward Radin,William Morrow & Co., 1964, p. 244"
Information Location 2:
Information Source 3:	In Spite of Innocence
Information Location 3:
Information Source 4:
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Information Source 5:
Information Location 5:
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Book Information:
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Gus Colin Langley

Charge:

First Degree Murder

Sentence:

Death

Years Imprisoned:

4

Year Crime:

Year Convicted:

1932

Year Cleared:

1936

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

North Carolina

County or Region of Crime:

Buncombe

City of Crime:

Asheville

Result:

Pardoned

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Jailhouse informant falsely testified that Langley confessed.

Innocence Proved By:

It was proved that he was 400 miles away from the location of the murder on the day it happened.

Defendant Aided By:

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. 137+."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

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

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

In Spite of Innocence

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: