Location

Defendant(s)

Date of Alleged Crime

Charles Bernstein (aka Charles Harris and Charles Blum) was convicted of robbing a bank in 1919.  Two witnesses identified him as the robber after being shown a picture of him as a teenager - not as an adult.  Two other witnesses said he was not the robber and two hotel detectives and the hotel clerk testified he was miles away in a St. Paul hotel lobby at the time of the robbery.  In 1928, a prosecutor became convinced of Bernstein's innocence and his conviction was overturned.

Five years later he was again mistaken as the perpetrator of a major crime.  He was convicted of the April 21, 1932 murder of gambler Milton White Henry in Washington, DC.  Bernstein was sentenced to death, even though six witnesses testified he was in New York at the time of the murder.  In May 1935, he was minutes away from being executed when President Roosevelt commuted his sentence to life in prison.  In June 1940, the President commuted his sentence to time served, and in April 1945, President Truman pardoned him.  Bernstein spent a total of 17 years imprisoned for the two crimes he did not commit.  (ISI)  [10/05]

George B. Slyter was convicted of robbery due to eyewitness identification.  During the early morning hours of Mar. 18, 1931 two intruders entered the garage of Nelson Brothers at 500 S. 11th St. South in Minneapolis, and at gunpoint forced the night man, Aaron Oxendale, open the cash register.  The robbery netted about $50.

Several days later, Oxendale saw a man who he thought was one of the assailants pass the garage.  He called police, who watched for the man's return.  Slyter was arrested after he again passed the garage.  Oxendale identified him with certainty.  Slyter said he had been at a St. Patrick's Day party with his mother and sister.  His sister and another guest gave different versions of the party and of the personnel present, though they said Slyter was there.  The jury deliberated on the verdict for several hours before convicting him.  Because Slyter had a previous conviction for attempted robbery, he was scheduled to be sentenced to 10 to 80 years in prison for the $50 robbery.  But sentencing was deferred for four days.

On the day of sentencing, the state asked that Slyter's conviction be stricken from the record and that he be freed due to new developments in the case.  The night previous, Oxendale and one of the Nelson brothers had been in the garage when it was again robbed by the same assailant that Oxendale had identified as Slyter.  The judge granted the state's motion and Slyter was freed.  (CTI)  [1/09]

Leonard Hankins was convicted in 1933 of participating in the murders of three people in the course of a bank robbery.  The robbery occurred at the Third Northwestern Bank in Minneapolis.  Two police officers, Ira L. Evans and Leo Gorski, were killed when they responded to the robbery.  A passerby was also killed.  Following the robbery, Hankins walked into a rooming house where one of the robbers had been seized.  Several witnesses said Hankins resembled the lookout man, although one witness denied Hankins was the lookout man.  Hankins claimed he was getting a haircut at the time of the robbery.  A barber corroborated that claim.

The FBI later captured one the bank robbers, Jess Doyle, who said Hankins had nothing to do with the robbery. Other members of the gang also said Hankins had nothing to do with the robbery.  In 1935, the FBI advised the Minneapolis police of Hankins' innocence, but the local authorities refused to release him because the FBI would not give them its file on Doyle.  Hankins spent another 15 years in prison before being pardoned in 1951.  In 1954, the state legislature awarded Hankins $300/month for life for his wrongful imprisonment.  [11/07]