Oscar Slater

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Charge:	Murder
Sentence:	Death and later resentenced or commuted to Life
Years Imprisoned:	19.17
Year Crime:	1908
Year Convicted:	1909
Year Cleared:	1928
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	United Kingdom
County or Region of Crime:	Scotland
City of Crime:	Edinburgh
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Oscar Slater was wrongly convicted on May 6, 1909 of murdering and stealing a diamond brooch from 83-year-old Marion Gilchrist in Glasgow, Scotland in December 1908. On the basis of conflicting eyewitness discriptions of the murderer, and his pawning of a diamond brooch that he used to immigrate to the U.S, he was extradicted from the U.S. to Scotland 1909. Slater was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. His sentence was commutted to life due to public pressure and a petition signed by 20,000 people, including his trial judge. Slater had in fact pawned his brooch a month prior to the murder and there was no physical evidence linking him to the murder. The newly established Scottish Court of Appeal quashed Slater's conviction in July 1928 on the ground the judge had not directed the jury about the irrelevance of Slater's previous character. A month after Slater's release he was granted ex gratia compensation of £6,000 (The equivalent in 1928 of $30,000, and of £270,000 in 2009) by the British government for his 19 years and 2 months of wrongful imprisonment. Three books publicized the miscarriage of justice in Slater's case, 'Trial of Oscar Slater' by William Roughead (1910), 'The Case of Oscar Slater' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1912) (which argued for Slater's pardon), and 'The Truth about Oscar Slater' by William Park (1927), which proved decisive in convincing the authorities that Slater wasn't guilty and led to the overturning of his conviction and release from prison. Slater died in 1948 at the age of 75."
Conviction Caused By:	Eyewitness error
Innocence Proved By:	The newly established Scottish Court of Appeal quashed Slater's conviction in July 1928 on the ground the judge had not directed the jury about the irrelevance of Slater's previous character.
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:	"£6,000 (Aug 1928)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	37
Age When Released:	56
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	""The Sins of our forebears," James Morton (solicitor and former editor of the New Law Journal), 2001, from seminar given at the Inns of Court School of Law in October 2001."
Information Location 1:	http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/peter.hill/nichol.htm
Information Source 2:	"The hangman and the electric chair - Part 1, by Bernie Matthews, July 28, 2005"
Information Location 2:	http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3700
Information Source 3:	"Will Get $30,000 For 19 Years In Cell, The New York Times, August 9, 1928, pg. 12"
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Book About Case:	'The Trial of Oscar Slater' by William Roughead (1910)
Book Information:
Book About Case (2):	'The Case of Oscar Slater' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1912) (which argued for Slater's pardon)
Book Information (2):
Movie About Case:	'The Truth about Oscar Slater' by William Park (1927) (This book led to Slater's exoneration and release from prison)
Comments About Case:

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Oscar Slater

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

Death and later resentenced or commuted to Life

Years Imprisoned:

19.17

Year Crime:

1908

Year Convicted:

1909

Year Cleared:

1928

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

United Kingdom

County or Region of Crime:

Scotland

City of Crime:

Edinburgh

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Eyewitness error

Innocence Proved By:

The newly established Scottish Court of Appeal quashed Slater's conviction in July 1928 on the ground the judge had not directed the jury about the irrelevance of Slater's previous character.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

"£6,000 (Aug 1928)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

37

Age When Released:

56

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

""The Sins of our forebears," James Morton (solicitor and former editor of the New Law Journal), 2001, from seminar given at the Inns of Court School of Law in October 2001."

Information Location 1:

http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/peter.hill/nichol.htm

Information Source 2:

"The hangman and the electric chair - Part 1, by Bernie Matthews, July 28, 2005"

Information Location 2:

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3700

Information Source 3:

"Will Get $30,000 For 19 Years In Cell, The New York Times, August 9, 1928, pg. 12"

Information Location 3:

Information Source 4:

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

'The Trial of Oscar Slater' by William Roughead (1910)

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

'The Case of Oscar Slater' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1912) (which argued for Slater's pardon)

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

'The Truth about Oscar Slater' by William Park (1927) (This book led to Slater's exoneration and release from prison)

Comments About Case: