Clifford T. Shephard (1936 conviction)

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Charge:	Forgery
Sentence:	18 months
Years Imprisoned:	1.5
Year Crime:	1935
Year Convicted:	1936
Year Cleared:	1950
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	New Jersey
County or Region of Crime:	Somerset
City of Crime:	North Plainfield
Result:	Pardoned
Summary of Case:	"Clifford T. Shephard was codefendant of C. Elizabeth Lester, AKA Betty. Lester and Clifford Shephard were wrongly convicted after two trials for different forgery charges in North Plainfield, New Jersey. Lester and Shephard, 49, were acquantances because he rented a room in her boarding house, when they were first arrested in April 1935 after a merchant victimized by a man and woman team that passed him a bad check saw them standing next to each other on a street corner waiting for a traffic light to change. Lester and Shephard were jailed for 7 months awaiting trial because neither could afford bail. During their trial in November 1935 ten merchants testifed they were the culprits who passed each of them a bad check. Both defendants were sentenced to nine months imprisonment. Immediately after they were released in January 1936 they were arrested and charged with more forgery counts. They were again jailed pending trial. During their trial in June 1936 the prosecution introduced the testimony of a different group of merchants who identified Lester and Shephard as the man and woman who passed each of them a bad check. After their conviction by a jury Lester was sentenced to 9 months in prison and Shephard was sentenced to 18 months. Shephard was released in 1937 after serving 27 months of incarceration. In 1938 he began efforts to find the actual forgers and clear his name. He hired the Burns Detective Agency which was able to identify that a known forger named Edward Sullivan resembled Shephard because they both had a jutting chin, and they had a handwriting expert compare the writing on the checks with Sullivan's handwriting. The expert determined Sullivan wrote the checks. In 1940 Shephard filed an application for a pardon based on his new evidence, but it was denied. Shephard then met with Sullivan and he agreed to write a full confession. Shephard also met with Sullivan's wife who also wrote a confession that she passed the checks forged by her husband. Shephard presented his new evidence to the pardon board every two years, only to be denied each year. In 1950 a newspaperman who became interested in Shephard's plight succeeded in bringing his case to the attention of New Jersey Governor Alfred E. Driscoll. Governor Driscoll ordered the parole board to conduct a full investigation, after which it recommended Shephard's pardon. Governor Driscoll Shephard signed Shephard's unconditional pardon on June 14, 1950, and he signed an unconditional pardon for Betty Lester on May 15, 1951 based on the new evidence of their innocence. It had been more than 15 years from the time of their arrest in April 1935. Lester was not awarded any compensation for her total of 18 months of wrongful incarceration, while Shephard was awarded $15,000 compensation by the New Jersey legislature, and Gov. Driscoll signed the bill on June 15, 1951."
Conviction Caused By:	Eyewitness error by more than a dozen eyewitnesses.
Innocence Proved By:	"Governor Driscoll Shephard signed Shephard's unconditional pardon on June 14, 1950, and he signed an unconditional pardon for Betty Lester on May 15, 1951 based on the new evidence of their innocence by the confessions of the actual forgers."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
Age When Imprisoned:	50
Age When Released:	51
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"The Innocents, Edward Radin,William Morrow & Co., 1964, p. 245."
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	"''Not Guilty," Judge Jerome Frank and Barbara Frank, Doubleday, NY, 1957, pgs. 74-78"
Information Location 2:
Information Source 3:	"Resemblance, St. Petersburg Times, June 16, 1950, p. 1"
Information Location 3:
Information Source 4:	"New Jersey Man Gets $15,000 From the State (Trenton, N.J., OP), The Edwardsville Intelligencer (Edwardsville, Illinois), June 16, 1951, p. 1"
Information Location 4:
Information Source 5:
Information Location 5:
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Clifford T. Shephard (1936 conviction)

Charge:

Forgery

Sentence:

18 months

Years Imprisoned:

1.5

Year Crime:

1935

Year Convicted:

1936

Year Cleared:

1950

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

New Jersey

County or Region of Crime:

Somerset

City of Crime:

North Plainfield

Result:

Pardoned

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Eyewitness error by more than a dozen eyewitnesses.

Innocence Proved By:

"Governor Driscoll Shephard signed Shephard's unconditional pardon on June 14, 1950, and he signed an unconditional pardon for Betty Lester on May 15, 1951 based on the new evidence of their innocence by the confessions of the actual forgers."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

50

Age When Released:

51

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"The Innocents, Edward Radin,William Morrow & Co., 1964, p. 245."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"''Not Guilty," Judge Jerome Frank and Barbara Frank, Doubleday, NY, 1957, pgs. 74-78"

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

"Resemblance, St. Petersburg Times, June 16, 1950, p. 1"

Information Location 3:

Information Source 4:

"New Jersey Man Gets $15,000 From the State (Trenton, N.J., OP), The Edwardsville Intelligencer (Edwardsville, Illinois), June 16, 1951, p. 1"

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

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