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Camilo Weston Leyra

 

Charge:

First Degree Murder

Sentence:

Death

Years Imprisoned:

6

Year Crime:

1950

Year Convicted:

1952

Year Cleared:

1956

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

New York

County or Region of Crime:

Kings

City of Crime:

New York City

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

"Camilo Weston Leyra was wrongly convicted in 1950 of two counts of first-degree murder in the murder of his parents in their apartment in Kings County, New York on January 10, 1950. Leyra's prosecution was based on his confession to a police psychiatrist, Dr. Max Helfand, and days and nights of intermittent, intensive police interrogations. Soon thereafter Leyra repeated the confession to a police captain and two assistant district attorneys. Leyra recanted his confession as false and coerced by the psychiatrist. After his conviction by a jury Camilo Leyra was sentenced to death. Leyra appealed. On April 12, 1951 the New York Court of Appeals reversed his conviction and ordered a new trial on the basis his "confession made to Dr. Helfand was inadmissible since it had been the product of mental and psychological coercion." During Leyra's retrial the prosecution introduced Leyra's "confession" to everyone other than Dr. Helfand. Leyra was again convicted and sentenced to death. The Court of Appeals affirmed Leyra's convictions by a 4 to 2 vote. After the United States Supreme Court denied Leyra's writ of certiorari, he filed a federal writ of habeas corpus to reverse his conviction and order a new trial. After his habeas corpus was denied by the U.S. District Court and the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the judge's ruling, Leyra appealed to the Supreme Court, which accepted certiorari. On June 1, 1954 the Supreme Court granted Leyra's petition. The Court held regarding Leyra's "confessions": "the undisputed facts in this case are irreconcilable with petitioner's mental freedom "to confess to or deny a suspected participation in a crime," and the relation of the confessions made to the psychiatrist, the police captain and the state prosecutors is "so close that one must say the facts of one control the character of the other . . . ." All were simply parts of one continuous process. All were extracted in the same place within a period of about five hours as the climax of days and nights of intermittent, intensive police questioning. First, an already physically and emotionally exhausted suspect's ability to resist interrogation was broken to almost trance-like submission by use of the arts of a highly skilled psychiatrist. Then the confession petitioner began making to the psychiatrist was filled in and perfected by additional statements given in rapid succession to a police officer, a trusted friend, and two state prosecutors. We hold that use of confessions extracted in such a manner from a lone defendant unprotected by counsel is not consistent with due process of law as required by our Constitution." (Leyra v. Denno, 347 US 556, 561 (6-1-1954) After the case was remanded back to the trial court, on January 31, 1955 the judge granted Leyra's motion to dismiss the indictment on the ground the evidence before the grand jury was insufficient without the inadmissible confessions. The State appealed. On April 27, 1956 the New York Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of Lyra's indictment, ruling that: "It had all along been recognized, by the trial judge (on both trials) and the district attorney (on the first appeal), that, without those confessions in the record, there was not sufficient evidence to justify a finding of guilt." (People v. Leyra, 1 NY 2d 199, 134 NE 2d 475, 151 NYS 2d (NY Ct. of Appeals, 4-27-1956)"

Conviction Caused By:

False confession was coerced by the police.

Innocence Proved By:

"Federal habeas corpus petition granted by U.S. Supreme Court, and on remand the Kings County trial court dismissed Leyra's indictment based on insufficient evidence."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

50

Age When Released:

56

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Leyra v. Denno, 347 US 556, 561 (6-1-1954) (Granting Leyra's federal habeas corpus petition on the basis his coerced confessions were inadmissible.)"

Information Location 1:

"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12049988504688125968&q=+347+U.S.+556&hl=en&as_sdt=6,48"

Information Source 2:

"People v. Leyra, 1 NY 2d 199, 134 NE 2d 475, 151 NYS 2d (NY Ct. of Appeals, 4-27-1956) (Affirming trial court's dismissal of Leyra's indictment.)"

Information Location 2:

"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15733268323911892649&q=1+N.Y.2d+199+%28N.Y.+1956%29&hl=en&as_sdt=6,48"

Information Source 3:

"“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 140+."

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