Cornelius Usher

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Charge:	"Theft (including swindling/fraud, deception and grand larceny)"
Sentence:	3 to 5 years
Years Imprisoned:	2
Year Crime:	1902
Year Convicted:	1902
Year Cleared:	1904
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Massachusetts
County or Region of Crime:	Essex
City of Crime:	Lynn
Result:	Pardoned
Summary of Case:	"Cornelius Usher was wrongly convicted of theft in the breakin of the Leonard Shoe Company in Lynn, Massachusetts on March 15, 1902, during which some tools were stolen. Usher insisted on his innocence and told the police that he had been given some tools to pawn by a man named Coughlin he had met while drinking, but he didn't know the tools were stolen. While drinking he had also met a man named Hart. Usher gave the police a description of Coughlin who had told Usher he was from Salem, Massachusetts. After his conviction following a bench trial, Usher was sentenced to 3 to 5 years in prison. On April 16, 1904 Coughlin was recognized in Salem and arrested. When Coughlin's arrest was publicized, Hart went to the police and provided the new information that he had seen Coughlin hand Usher some tools. Usher filed a writ of habeas corpus based on the new evidence, and his case was presented to the governor, who refused to act until Coughlin's guilt was legally established. On May 20, 1904 Coughlin pled guilty to the Leonard Shoe Company robbery and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Suffolk County District Attorney W. Scott Peters approved Usher's application for a pardon based on the new evidence of his innocence, which was granted on May 25, 1904 by Massachusetts Governor William Lewis Douglas. On March 27, 1905 Governor Douglas signed a bill passed by the Massachusetts Legislature indemnify Usher in the amount of $1,000 for his 1 year, 11 months, and 26 days of wrongful imprisonment."
Conviction Caused By:
Innocence Proved By:	"Suffolk County District Attorney W. Scott Peters approved Usher's application for a pardon based on the new evidence of his innocence, which was granted on May 25, 1904 by Massachusetts Governor William Lewis Douglas."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:	"$1,000 (State of Massachusetts, 1904)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
Age When Imprisoned:
Age When Released:
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"Convicting the Innocent - Sixty-Five Actual Errors of Criminal Justice, by Edwin Borchard, Yale Univ Press, 1932, pp. 362-364 (Chp. "Cornelius Usher")"
Information Location 1:	http://library.albany.edu/preservation/brittle_bks/Borchard_Convicting/chpt60.pdf
Information Source 2:	"No. 18. Cornelius Usher, Special Messages section, "Acts and Resolves Passed by the General Court of Massachusetts, in the Year 1905," Published by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, (Wright & Potter Printing Co., State Printers, 1905), p. 600"
Information Location 2:	https://books.google.com/books?id=aldNAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
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Cornelius Usher

Charge:

"Theft (including swindling/fraud, deception and grand larceny)"

Sentence:

3 to 5 years

Years Imprisoned:

2

Year Crime:

1902

Year Convicted:

1902

Year Cleared:

1904

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Massachusetts

County or Region of Crime:

Essex

City of Crime:

Lynn

Result:

Pardoned

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

"Suffolk County District Attorney W. Scott Peters approved Usher's application for a pardon based on the new evidence of his innocence, which was granted on May 25, 1904 by Massachusetts Governor William Lewis Douglas."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

"$1,000 (State of Massachusetts, 1904)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Convicting the Innocent - Sixty-Five Actual Errors of Criminal Justice, by Edwin Borchard, Yale Univ Press, 1932, pp. 362-364 (Chp. "Cornelius Usher")"

Information Location 1:

http://library.albany.edu/preservation/brittle_bks/Borchard_Convicting/chpt60.pdf

Information Source 2:

"No. 18. Cornelius Usher, Special Messages section, "Acts and Resolves Passed by the General Court of Massachusetts, in the Year 1905," Published by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, (Wright & Potter Printing Co., State Printers, 1905), p. 600"

Information Location 2:

https://books.google.com/books?id=aldNAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

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Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

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