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Wrongly
Convicted Database
Record
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Years
Imprisoned:
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9 |
Charge: |
First Degree Murder |
Sentence: |
Death |
Year Convicted: |
1933 |
Year
Cleared:
|
1942 |
Location
of Trial:
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Florida |
Result:
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Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary
of Case:
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"Four Black co-defendants: Isiah (Izell) Chambers, Charlie Davis, Jack Williamson, and Walter Woodward, were known as the "Pompano Boys." All four were convicted of murder and sentenced to death for the 1933 robbery and murder of an elderly white man, Robert Darsey (Darcy) in Pompano, Florida. The defendants' convictions were based on the false confessions of the four young men after five days of physical torture and intense third-degree interrogation when they had no access to a lawyer. Only Chambers did not plead guilty and was convicted after a trial, but they were all sentenced to death. In the historic decision of Chambers v. State of Florida, 309 U.S. 227 (1940), the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the four convictions on February 12, 1940. The four "Pompano Boys" were found not guilty in March 1942 and they were released after nine years of imprisonment." |
Conviction
Caused By:
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False confessions extracted from the four young men after five days of physical torture and intense third-degree interrogation. |
Innocence
Proved By:
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"In Chambers v. Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the four convictions on February 12, 1940, on the basis that their interrogations violated their right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. A month later the charges were dismissed and the four "Pompano Boys" were released after 7 years of imprisonment."
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Defendant
Aided By:
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Civil rights lawyer S.D. McGill won six reversals of the four defendant's convictions six times before their eventual release in 1942. |
Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Found? |
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Age
When Imprisoned:
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Age
When Released:
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Information Source 1: |
Chambers v. State of Florida, 309 U.S. 227 (1940) |
Information
Location 1:
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Information
Source 2:
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“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 104+. |
Information
Location 2:
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Information
Source 3:
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African Americans in Florida: An Illustrated History, By Maxine D. Jones, Kevin M. McCarthy (Pineapple Pr (October 1, 1993)) |
Information
Location 3:
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Information
Source 4:
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Information
Location 4:
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Information
Source 5:
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Information
Location 5:
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Ethnicity/Skin:
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Black |
Book
About
Case:
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Book
Information:
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Book About Case (2): |
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Book Information (2): |
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Movie About Case: |
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Comments About Case: |
Falsely confessed |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org