Margaret Lucas

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Charge:	First Degree Murder
Sentence:	Exonerated After Conviction But Prior to Sentencing
Years Imprisoned:
Year Crime:
Year Convicted:	1909
Year Cleared:	1909
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Illinois
County or Region of Crime:
City of Crime:
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Margaret Lucas.was codefendant of her son Jesse Lucas. Margaret was convicted, along with her son Jesse Lucas, by a jury in 1909 of the murder four years earlier of Clyde Showalter near Mt. Carmel, Illinois. Her conviction rested on the perjured testimony of a purported eyewitness, Oma Johnson, and two other witnesses, Myrtle Mercer and Ruth Henson, who claimed to have heard the defendants talking about how they had committed the crime. After Margaret's conviction but before her sentencing, the trial judge granted her a new trial, and the charges against her were dropped. Jesse was sentenced to life in prison and incarcerated for 23 years before Showalter's actual killer, George Pond, confessed on his deathbed. (Center on Wrongful Convictions website.)"
Conviction Caused By:	Perjured testimony of alleged eyewitness.
Innocence Proved By:	Charges dropped after she was granted a new trial.
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:
Age When Released:
Sex:	Female
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. 142."
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	"Margaret Lucas, Center on Wrongful Convictions website"
Information Location 2:	http://165.124.73.46/wrongfulconvictions/exonerations/ilLucasMSummary.html
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Margaret Lucas

Charge:

First Degree Murder

Sentence:

Exonerated After Conviction But Prior to Sentencing

Years Imprisoned:

Year Crime:

Year Convicted:

1909

Year Cleared:

1909

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Illinois

County or Region of Crime:

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Perjured testimony of alleged eyewitness.

Innocence Proved By:

Charges dropped after she was granted a new trial.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Female

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. 142."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"Margaret Lucas, Center on Wrongful Convictions website"

Information Location 2:

http://165.124.73.46/wrongfulconvictions/exonerations/ilLucasMSummary.html

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Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

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