Lonzo Thornton

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Charge:	Robbery and Assault
Sentence:	10 to 25 years
Years Imprisoned:	1.5
Year Crime:	1926
Year Convicted:	1926
Year Cleared:	1928
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Ohio
County or Region of Crime:	Butler
City of Crime:	Middletown
Result:	Pardoned
Summary of Case:	"Lonzo Thornton was wrongly convicted of robbery and assault on October 6, 1926 in Middletown, Ohio. Thornton's conviction was based on the eyewitness identification of the victim that he was one of the two men who robbed and assaulted him. The jury rejected Thornton's five alibi witnesses placing him elsewhere at the time of the crime. Thornton was sentenced to 10 to 25 years in prison. In January 1928 a man arrested on unrelated charges confessed to being the second man involved in the crime -- who Thornton had erroneously been identified as being. In February 1928 Ohio's governor granted Thornton a full pardon based on the new evidence of his innocence, and he was released."
Conviction Caused By:	Eyewitness error
Innocence Proved By:	"In February 1928 Ohio's governor granted Thornton a full pardon based on the new evidence of his innocence, and he was released."
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Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
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Sex:	Male
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Information Source 1:	"Convicting the Innocent - Sixty-Five Actual Errors of Criminal Justice, by Edwin Borchard, Yale Univ Press, 1932"
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Lonzo Thornton

Charge:

Robbery and Assault

Sentence:

10 to 25 years

Years Imprisoned:

1.5

Year Crime:

1926

Year Convicted:

1926

Year Cleared:

1928

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Ohio

County or Region of Crime:

Butler

City of Crime:

Middletown

Result:

Pardoned

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Eyewitness error

Innocence Proved By:

"In February 1928 Ohio's governor granted Thornton a full pardon based on the new evidence of his innocence, and he was released."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Information Source 1:

"Convicting the Innocent - Sixty-Five Actual Errors of Criminal Justice, by Edwin Borchard, Yale Univ Press, 1932"

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Information Source 2:

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Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: