Gerald C. Wentzel

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Charge:	Second Degree Murder
Sentence:	10 to 20 years
Years Imprisoned:	3
Year Crime:	1946
Year Convicted:	1947
Year Cleared:	1950
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Pennsylvania
County or Region of Crime:	Montgomery
City of Crime:
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Gerald C. Wentzel was wrongly convicted in 1947 of second degree murder in the strangulation death of a 29-year-old divorcee he had been seeing regularly. Gerald Wentzel was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison. The jury rejected his alibi defense that he was 200 miles away on a hunting trip on the day of the murder. The Court of Last Resort investigated Wentzel's case and based on forensic pathology evidence of the woman's time of death, confirmed his alibi that he was out of town at the time of the crime. Based on the new evidence Wentzel's conviction was overturned and he was released. The Court of Last Resort was founded by Erle Stanley Gardner, the writer of the Perry Mason books."
Conviction Caused By:	Erroneous time of death estimate by the coroner.
Innocence Proved By:	The Court of Last Resort proved Wentzel was out of town at the time the murders occurred.
Defendant Aided By:	The Court of Last Resort
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:
Age When Released:
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 168."
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Information Source 2:	"''Not Guilty," Judge Jerome Frank and Barbara Frank, Doubleday, NY, 1957, Chapter 5"
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Gerald C. Wentzel

Charge:

Second Degree Murder

Sentence:

10 to 20 years

Years Imprisoned:

3

Year Crime:

1946

Year Convicted:

1947

Year Cleared:

1950

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Pennsylvania

County or Region of Crime:

Montgomery

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Erroneous time of death estimate by the coroner.

Innocence Proved By:

The Court of Last Resort proved Wentzel was out of town at the time the murders occurred.

Defendant Aided By:

The Court of Last Resort

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 168."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"''Not Guilty," Judge Jerome Frank and Barbara Frank, Doubleday, NY, 1957, Chapter 5"

Information Location 2:

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Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: