James Montgomery

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Charge:	Rape
Sentence:	Life Imprisonment
Years Imprisoned:	25.75
Year Crime:	1923
Year Convicted:	1924
Year Cleared:	1949
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Illinois
County or Region of Crime:	Lake
City of Crime:	Waukegan
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"James Montgomery was wrongly convicted on January 9, 1924 of a phantom rape in December 1923 of a 62-year-old woman who sold items door to door in Waukegan, Illinois. Montgomery, black, was convicted solely on the word of the woman, who was white. Montgomery's lawyer was so afraid of reprisals by the Ku Klux Klan if he vigorously defended Montgomery, that he didn't even cross-examine the alleged victim, and he rested Montgomery's defense without presenting any evidence. The prosecutor concealed that the woman couldn't recognize Montgomery the day after she had ID him at police headquarters under the prosecutor's direction, and there was no evidence a rape had even occurred. After a two year investigation Chicago lawyer Luis Kutner filed a writ of habeas corpus in 1949 on Montgomery's behalf in federal court. After holding an evidentiary hearing on June 27, 1949, U. S. District Court Judge Michael Igo issued his ruling on August 10, 1949 that Montgomery's innocence was clear, as was the prosecutor's guilt of manipulating the woman into give false testimony about a rape that never occurred. Montgomery filed a lawsuit with the Illinois Court of Claims for $250,000 for his 25 years and nine months of wrongful incarceration, but it was dismissed on the basis the prosecutor was an employee of Lake County so the state had no financial responsibility for the methods he used to obtain Montgomery's conviction."
Conviction Caused By:	False eyewitness testimony and prosecutorial misconduct of manipulating the witness to testify to a rape that never occurred
Innocence Proved By:	Judicially declared to be innocent after an evidentiary hearing.
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:	No
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	26
Age When Released:	52
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	"''Not Guilty," Judge Jerome Frank and Barbara Frank, Doubleday, NY, 1957, pp. 151-154"
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Information Source 2:	"The Innocents, Edward Radin,William Morrow & Co., 1964, p. 243"
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James Montgomery

Charge:

Rape

Sentence:

Life Imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

25.75

Year Crime:

1923

Year Convicted:

1924

Year Cleared:

1949

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Illinois

County or Region of Crime:

Lake

City of Crime:

Waukegan

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

False eyewitness testimony and prosecutorial misconduct of manipulating the witness to testify to a rape that never occurred

Innocence Proved By:

Judicially declared to be innocent after an evidentiary hearing.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

No

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

26

Age When Released:

52

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"''Not Guilty," Judge Jerome Frank and Barbara Frank, Doubleday, NY, 1957, pp. 151-154"

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"The Innocents, Edward Radin,William Morrow & Co., 1964, p. 243"

Information Location 2:

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Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: