Gyula Mraz (rape case)

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Charge:	Rape
Sentence:
Years Imprisoned:	1
Year Crime:	1954
Year Convicted:	1956
Year Cleared:	1956
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Australia
County or Region of Crime:	New South Wales
City of Crime:	Woolamai
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Gyula Mraz was wrongly convicted of raping Isabella Joyce Wilson on September 27, 1954 in Woolamai, New South Wales, Australia. Mraz was first charged with murdering Wilson and convicted by a jury of manslaughter, but the High Court of Australia quashed his conviction on on November 18, 1955 and no retrial was ordered. Mraz was then charged with raping Wilson. Mraz' defense was that he had consensual sexual intercourse with Wilson and that she was eager to do so. The prosecution relied on the same evidence that resulted in his acquittal of murder and his quashed manslaughter conviction. The prosecution introduced no evidence during his trial that Wilson had been raped, that suffered any injury, and there was no evidence of any act of violence against her. The jury convicted Mraz of rape. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Mraz' conviction, and Australia's High Court granted his leave to appeal. On September 14, 1956 Australia's High Court quashed his rape conviction and ordered a judgment of acquittal. The Court's ruling stated: "From this it follows that the jury's verdict of not guilty of murder in the circumstances involves as a matter of law a finding that the applicant did not commit rape. An indictment for rape is therefore inconsistent with the verdict upon this issue. ... In our opinion special leave to appeal should be granted. ... it should be ordered that the conviction for rape and the judgment thereon should be reversed and a verdict of not guilty should be entered.""
Conviction Caused By:
Innocence Proved By:	"On September 14, 1956 Australia's High Court ordered Mraz's rape conviction reversed and a judgment of acquittal entered."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	22
Age When Released:	24
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:
Information Source 1:	"Mraz v R (No 2) [1956] HCA 54; (1956) 96 CLR 62 (Australia High Court, 9-14-1956) (Reversing conviction based on insufficient evidence and ordering acquittal.)"
Information Location 1:	http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/1956/54.html
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Gyula Mraz (rape case)

Charge:

Rape

Sentence:

Years Imprisoned:

1

Year Crime:

1954

Year Convicted:

1956

Year Cleared:

1956

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Australia

County or Region of Crime:

New South Wales

City of Crime:

Woolamai

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

"On September 14, 1956 Australia's High Court ordered Mraz's rape conviction reversed and a judgment of acquittal entered."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

22

Age When Released:

24

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Information Source 1:

"Mraz v R (No 2) [1956] HCA 54; (1956) 96 CLR 62 (Australia High Court, 9-14-1956) (Reversing conviction based on insufficient evidence and ordering acquittal.)"

Information Location 1:

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/1956/54.html

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