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Wrongly
Convicted Database
Record
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Years
Imprisoned:
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Charge: |
Murder |
Sentence: |
Death and Executed |
Year Convicted: |
1887 |
Year
Cleared:
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Location
of Trial:
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Arkansas |
Result:
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Not Judicially Exonerated - Executed |
Summary
of Case:
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"Twice wrrongly convicted in Marion County, Arkansas of murdering George Watkins, his lover's husband, based on her testimony. After his 1887 conviction he was sentenced to death, but his 1887 conviction was overturned by the Arkansas Supreme Court because the trial judge improperly excluded testimony undermining the credibility of the wife, (Hudspeth v. State, 50 Ark. 534 (1888)). Rebecca Watkins. Hudspeth was convicted in 1891 after a retrial and again sentenced to death. He was hanged at Harrison, Arkansas on December 30, 1892. Six months later Hudspeth's lawyer located the alleged victim, George Watkins, alive in Kansas." |
Conviction
Caused By:
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"False testimony by the prosecution's star witness that Hudspeth had murdered her husband, when he in fact had left her and moved to Kansas." |
Innocence
Proved By:
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"Six months after Hudspeth was hanged, his lawyer located the alleged victim, George Watkins, alive in Kansas."
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Defendant
Aided By:
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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: |
"The Dead Alive - The Novel, The Case, and Wrongful Convictions, By Rob Warden, Northwestern Univ. Press, 2005, pp. 156-157." |
Information
Location 1:
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Information
Source 2:
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"Hudspeth v. State, 50 Ark. 534 (1888). " |
Information
Location 2:
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Information
Source 3:
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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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White |
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: |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org