Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

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Emil Listig

 

Charge:

Counterfeiting (Inclds. Possession of counterfeit bills)

Sentence:

Years Imprisoned:

3.25

Year Crime:

1946

Year Convicted:

1946

Year Cleared:

1949

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

New Jersey - Federal Case

County or Region of Crime:

Camden

City of Crime:

Camden

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

"Emil Lustig and his codefendant Thomas E. Reynolds were wrongly convicted in 1946 in federal court of counterfeiting currency in Camden, New Jersey. On March 10, 1946 the manager of a Camden hotel called the police and told them that he thought "something was going on" in the men's room, although he had no evidence or even an idea what that "something" might be. The Camden police obtained a warrant for the arrest of the two men on the basis they were in violation of a Camden ordinance that "known criminals" must register with the police within 24 hours after arriving in town.The local police and a federal Secret Service officer were let into the men's room by the manager when the two men were not there, and they began searching through dressers and the men's belongings -- without even attempting to obtain a search warrant. The police and federal agent began the search to find evidence supporting their suspicion that Lustig and Reynolds were involved in racetrack ticket counterfeiting. No evidence of racetrack ticket counterfeiting was found, the federal agent found evidence indicating they could be involved in counterfeiting currency. Lustig and Reynolds were indicted for violating the federal currency counterfeiting statute and for possion of a counterfeit bill, based based on the seizure of evidence in their hotel room and a bill seized from Reynolds when the men returned during the search. The motion of Lustig and Reynolds to suppress the evidence seized as the fruit of an illegal search of their room and Reynolds was denied by the trial judge. After their convictions by a jury both men were sentenced to a total of 8 years in prison: 5 years for counterfeiting and 3 years for possession of counterfeit money, with the sentences to be served consecutively. Lustig appealed (Reynolds did not appeal). On February 10, 1947 the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Lustig's convictions. The U.S. Supreme Court accepted review of Lustig's case. On June 27, 1949 the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Lustig's convictions based on the trial judge's error of denying his motion to suppress the evidence illegally seized from their hotel room and Reynolds. It isn't known if Thomas Reynolds filed a petition to vacate his conviction based on the exoneration of his codefendant Lustig, since both men were convicted on the exact same evidence and set of facts. Emil was the brother of "Count" Victor Lustig, who was a counterfeiter and widely considered to be one of the smoothest con men who ever lived. Among his scams was in 1925 Victor "sold" the right to demolish the Eiffel Tower to an unsuspecting scrap-metal dealer for $70,000. In 1930 Lustig set-up a U.S. currency counterfeiting operation that produced $100,000 per month in phony bills. Lustig was arrested in 1935 after the police were contacted by a jealous girlfriend. He pled guilty to counterfeiting and was sentenced in November 1935 to 20 years in prison. On April 27, 1936, 46-year-old Victor Lustig arrived in Alcatraz, where he remained for more than ten years until he was transferred to the federal Bureau of Prisons medical facility in Springfield, Missouri, where he died on March 11, 1947 from complications arising from pneumonia. Victor's death wasn't publicly disclosed until Emil Lustig told a judge in 1949 that his brother died two years earlier."

Conviction Caused By:

Trial judge erred in denying motion to suppress evidence seized during illegal search and seizure.

Innocence Proved By:

"On June 27, 1949 the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Emil Lustig's conviction based on the illegal seizure without a warrant of evidence from the hotel room rented to Lustig and Thomas E. Reynolds."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Lustig v. United States, 338 U.S. 74, 69 S.Ct. 1372, 93 L.Ed. 1819 (1949) (Reversing conviction based on illegal seizure of evidence from hotel room without a warrant.)"

Information Location 1:

https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/338/74/case.html

Information Source 2:

"United States v. Lustig, 159 F.2d 798 (3rd Cir. 1947) (Affirming convictions of Lustig and Reynolds.)"

Information Location 2:

https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1566001/united-states-v-lustig/

Information Source 3:

"The Smoothest Con Man That Ever Lived: "Count" Victor Lustig once sold the Eiffel Tower to an unsuspecting scrap-metal dealer. Then he started thinking really big, Smithsonian.com"

Information Location 3:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-smoothest-con-man-that-ever-lived-29861908/?no-ist

Information Source 4:

"The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower. Twice: “Count” Victor Lustig was America’s greatest con man, By Jeff Maysh, Smithsonian.com, March 9, 2016"

Information Location 4:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/man-who-sold-eiffel-tower-twice-180958370/

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org

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