Robert Loomis

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Charge:	Murder
Sentence:
Years Imprisoned:	1
Year Crime:
Year Convicted:	1920
Year Cleared:	1921
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Pennsylvania
County or Region of Crime:
City of Crime:
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Robert Loomis was wrongly convicted twice of murdering a woman in Pennsylvania during a burglary. After his initial conviction was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 1920 because the trial judge's had biased the jury against Loomis, the PA Sup. Ct. overturned his conviction after a retrial because the judge again prejudiced the jury against Loomis. A fingerprint found at the scene on a tin jewelry box that was alleged by the prosecution to have been handled by the murderer was found to not be Loomis'. However the judge refused to instruct the jury to consider the exculpatory nature of that evidence: The PA Supreme Ct stated, "If weight is to be given finger-print testimony, then the jury, in passing upon the guilt of Loomis, would be justified in taking into consideration the fact that someone else handled the box either at or about the time of the murder." Commonwealth v Loomis, 270 Pa. 254 (1921)."
Conviction Caused By:	Judges refusal to instruct the jury that Loomis' finger-prints were excluded as matching those found on a jewelry box allegedly handled by the murderer.
Innocence Proved By:	"Pennsylvania Court of Appeals Twice reversed Loomis' wrongful conviction. In 1920 after his first wrongful conviction, and in 1921 after his second wrongful conviction."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:
Age When Released:
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:
Information Source 1:	"Commonwealth v Loomis, 270 Pa. 254 (1921)."
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	"Commonwealth v Loomis, 267 Pa. 438 (1920)."
Information Location 2:
Information Source 3:	"Suspect Identities, Simon Cole, Harvard Univ. Press, 2001, pp. 192-193"
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Book About Case:
Book Information:
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Robert Loomis

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

Years Imprisoned:

1

Year Crime:

Year Convicted:

1920

Year Cleared:

1921

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Pennsylvania

County or Region of Crime:

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Judges refusal to instruct the jury that Loomis' finger-prints were excluded as matching those found on a jewelry box allegedly handled by the murderer.

Innocence Proved By:

"Pennsylvania Court of Appeals Twice reversed Loomis' wrongful conviction. In 1920 after his first wrongful conviction, and in 1921 after his second wrongful conviction."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Information Source 1:

"Commonwealth v Loomis, 270 Pa. 254 (1921)."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"Commonwealth v Loomis, 267 Pa. 438 (1920)."

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

"Suspect Identities, Simon Cole, Harvard Univ. Press, 2001, pp. 192-193"

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: