Caryl Whittier Chessman (May 27, 1921 – May 2, 1960) was a convicted robber and rapist who gained fame as a Death Row inmate in California. Chessman's case attracted world-wide attention, and as a result he became a cause célèbre for the movement to ban capital punishment. is the 147th day of the year (148th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... is the 122nd day of the year (123rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For the 1967 film, see Robbery (film). ... It has been suggested that Rapists be merged into this article or section. ... For information about the Record company see Death Row Records For information about the computer game see Deathrow (game) Death Row is a term that refers to the section of a prison that houses individuals awaiting execution. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... Look up cause célèbre in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Death penalty, death sentence, and execution redirect here. ...

Crime and conviction

Born in St. Joseph, Michigan, Caryl Chessman was a criminal with a long record who spent most of his adult life behind bars. He had been paroled a short time from prison in California when he was arrested near Los Angeles and charged with being the notorious "Red Light Bandit." The "Bandit" would follow people in their cars to secluded areas and flash a red light that tricked them into thinking he was a police officer. When they opened their windows or exited the vehicle, he would rob and, in the case of several young women, rape them. In July 1948, Chessman was convicted on 17 counts of robbery, kidnapping, and rape and condemned to death. Aerial view of the harbor at St. ... It has been suggested that Medical parole be merged into this article or section. ... Los Angeles and L.A. redirect here. ... Death penalty, death sentence, and execution redirect here. ...

The main evidence that supported Chessman's conviction was from one of the Red Light Bandit's victims who turned out to be schizophrenic, and her memory of events was unclear. Her testimony is considered by some to be inaccurate, such as seen in the Alan Alda film 'Kill Me If You Can.' Chessman is widely-believed to have been innocent of the crime that sent him to his death.

Part of the controversy surrounding the Chessman case stems from how the death penalty was applied. At the time, under California's version of the "Little Lindbergh Law", any crime that involved kidnapping with bodily harm could be considered a capital offense. Two of the counts against Chessman alleged that he dragged a woman a short distance from her car before raping her. Despite the short distance the woman was moved, the court considered it sufficient to qualify as kidnapping, thus making Chessman eligible for the death penalty. Following the historic Lindbergh kidnapping (the abduction and murder of Charles Lindberghs toddler son), United States Congress adopted a federal kidnapping statute—popularly known as the Lindbergh Law — which was intended to let federal authorities step in and pursue kidnappers once they had crossed a state border with their...

Legal appeals

Acting as his own attorney, Chessman vigorously asserted his innocence from the outset, arguing throughout the trial and the appeals process that he was alternately the victim of mistaken identity, or a much larger conspiracy seeking to frame him for a crime he did not commit. He claimed at other times to know who the real culprit was, but refused to name him. He further alleged that statements he made during his initial police interrogation implicating him in the Red Light Bandit crimes were coerced through torture. For other uses, see Coercion (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Torture (disambiguation). ...

Over the course of the 12 years he spent on death row, Chessman filed dozens of appeals and successfully avoided eight execution deadlines, often by mere hours. He appealed his conviction primarily on the grounds that the original trial was improperly conducted and that subsequent appeals were seriously hampered by incomplete and incorrect transcripts of the original trial proceedings. The appeals were successful and the U.S. Supreme Court finally ordered the State of California to either conduct a full review of the transcripts or release Chessman. The review concluded that the transcripts were substantially accurate and Chessman was scheduled to die in February 1960. In law, an appeal is a process for making a formal challenge to an official decision. ... Execution is a synonym for the actioning of something, of putting something into effect. ... The Supreme Court of the United States (sometimes colloquially referred to by the acronym SCOTUS[1]) is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. ...

The Chessman affair put then-Governor of California Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, an opponent of the death penalty, in a difficult situation. Brown initially did not intervene in the case, but then issued a last-minute, 60-day stay of execution on February 19, 1960, just hours before Chessman's scheduled execution. Brown claimed he issued the stay out of concern that Chessman's execution could threaten the safety of President Dwight D. Eisenhower during a planned visit to South America, where the Chessman case had inflamed anti-American sentiment. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (left) and Governor Gray Davis (right) with President George W. Bush in 2003 The Governor of California is the highest executive authority in the state government, whose responsibilities include making yearly State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that... For other persons named Pat Brown, see Pat Brown (disambiguation). ... [[Media:Italic text]]{| style=float:right; |- | |- | |} is the 50th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Dwight David Eisenhower, born David Dwight Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969), nicknamed Ike, was a five-star General in the United States Army and U.S. politician, who served as the thirty-fourth President of the United States (1953–1961). ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ...

Public appeals

Chessman argued his case in the court of public opinion through letters, essays and books. While on death row, he wrote four books: Cell 2455 Death Row (1954), Trial by Ordeal (1955), The Face of Justice (1957) and The Kid Was A Killer (1960). In Cell 2455, Death Row, he clearly implies he once killed a man, though he was never prosecuted or convicted for this. Chessman's memoirs became bestsellers and ignited a world-wide movement to spare his life, while focusing attention on the politics of the death penalty in the United States at a time when most Western countries had already abandoned it, or were in the process of doing so. Brown's offices were flooded with appeals for clemency from noted authors and intellectuals from around the world, including Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, Norman Mailer, Dwight MacDonald, and Robert Frost, and from such other public figures as former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Christian evangelist Billy Graham. ^[1] A pardon is the forgiveness of a crime and the penalty associated with it. ... Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. ... Ray Douglas Bradbury (born August 22, 1920) is an American literary, fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer best known for The Martian Chronicles, a 1950 book which has been described both as a short story collection and a novel, and his 1953 dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451. ... Norman Kingsley Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007) was an American novelist, journalist, playwright, screenwriter, and film director. ... Dwight Macdonald (1906-1982) was an American writer, social critic, philosopher, and political radical. ... Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) was an American poet. ... Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (IPA: ; October 11, 1884 – November 7, 1962) was First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. ... For other persons named Billy Graham, see Billy Graham (disambiguation). ...

The manuscript of Chessman's novel The Kid Was a Killer was seized by San Quentin warden Harley O. Teets in 1954 on the belief that it was "prison labor." The manuscript was eventually returned to Chessman in late 1957 and published in 1960.^[2] In addition to giving him world-wide notoriety, the books earned Chessman hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Execution

In 1954 or 1955, California repealed the Little Lindbergh Law and converted the death sentences of those who had been convicted under its statutes to terms of life in prison. Some of these inmates earned parole years later; Chessman, however, never had his sentence repealed. His sentence was upheld, and Brown refused to grant clemency.

Brown's stay of execution, along with Chessman's last appeals, ran out in April 1960 and Brown subsequently declined to grant Chessman executive clemency. Exhausting a last-minute attempt to file a writ of habeas corpus with the California Supreme Court, Chessman finally went to the gas chamber at San Quentin Prison on May 2, 1960. In common law jurisdictions, habeas corpus, or more precisely habeas corpus ad subjiciendum, is a prerogative writ which requires the addressee to produce in court a person in its custody and justify his or her imprisonment. ... The Supreme Court of California is the state supreme court in California. ... For other uses, see Gas chamber (disambiguation). ... Categories: Buildings and structures stubs | US geography stubs | Prisons in California ... is the 122nd day of the year (123rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

During the execution, the emergency telephone rang just as the chamber was filling with gas. The caller was Judge Goodman's secretary, with a one-hour stay of execution. She quickly told Assistant Warden Reed Nelson the purpose of her call; he responded, "It's too late. The execution has begun." There was no way to stop the fumes, and no way to open the door and rescue the condemned man without the deadly fumes killing others.^[3] The alleged new evidence uncovered by the Argosy magazine which prompted the stay appears in very few accounts.

The celebrated author Dominique Lapierre visited Chessman several times during his incarceration. Lapierre was then a young reporter working for a French newspaper. His account of Chessman appears in the book A Thousand Suns. Dominique Lapierre (born 1931 in Châtelaillon, near La Rochelle, France) is a French author. ...

Chessman in popular culture

• While on death row, Chessman sold the rights to his autobiography, Cell 2455, Death Row to Columbia Pictures. The book was made into a film of the same name, directed by Fred F. Sears in 1955, with William Campbell as Chessman. Chessman's middle name, Whittier, was used as the surname of his alter ego protagonist in the film.

• The famous radio and TV program, Dragnet, aired two episodes that were heavily inspired by Chessman's criminal activities called The Big Badge, in which the criminal was similarly given the nickname "The Badge Bandit," and "The Red Light Bandit," in which the crimes are similar to Chessman's, except that the perpetrator murders one of the victims.

• Before becoming famous as a country music star, Merle Haggard served time with Chessman in San Quentin.

• Chessman is mentioned on the Genesis album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway in the track "Broadway Melody of 1974" - "... the cheerleader waves her cyanide wand there's a smell of peach blossom and bitter almond. Caryl Chessman sniffs the air and leads the parade. He knows, in a scent, you can bottle all you made....

• On the album notes of I Ain't Marching Anymore, Phil Ochs references Chessman as part of the inspiration for his song Iron Lady.

• The 1977 movie Kill Me If You Can, with Alan Alda, was based on Chessman's story.

• He's mentioned in the book By Reason of Insanity by Shane Stevens. The book is fiction, and in it, a serial killer's actions are driven partially by the belief he is Chessman's son.

• Singer Country Johnny Mathis performed "Caryl Chessman" for a D Records single. The song was written by Eddie Hollowell and re-issued by Top Rank International on the EP Country And Western Express, Vol. 5, and on the God Less America CD and LP in the US.

• Chessman was referred to in a song called "The Lifer" which was recorded at Michigan's Marquette Prison in September 1962. It was written by Al Gliva, prisoner #62055 according to the 45 RPM single picture sleeve. It was sung by Roger Chase, and released on Longhorn Records.

• Caryl Chessman is one of many names mentioned in Neil Diamond's song "Done Too Soon" on his 1970 album "Tap Root Manuscript."

• In 1960, Marlon Brando tried in vain to convince the producer and director of their planned adaptation of Mutiny on the Bounty to instead develop a film about Caryl Chessman.^[4]

• His activities were inspiration for the urban legend of The man with the hook.

• A Mexican wrestler in the AAA Mexican wrestling promotion uses the pseudonym "Chessman."[1]

• A song by the legendary Argentine rock band "Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota" entitled "Un tal Brigitte Bardot" ("A certain Brigitte Bardot", only available in old bootleg versions and never released officially by the band in any of their albums) mentions Chessman in its lyrics.

• The mental asylum that plays a pivotal role in the X-Files Episode 'Daemonicus' is named after Chessman.

• Chessman is mentioned by French singer Nicolas Peyrac. In his nostalgic 1975 hit "So Far Away From L.A." he sings "Mr. Caryl Chessman is dead, was he right or wrong?"

• A Cruel and Unusual Night, a 1964 episode of Kraft Suspense Theatre, was inspired by the execution of Chessman, specifically the phone ringing moments after the cyanide had dropped.

Cover of the first English edition of 1793 of Benjamin Franklins autobiography. ... The Columbia Pictures logo from 1993 to the present Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. ... Fred F. Sears (1913-1957) was an American film actor and director. ... Dragnet was a long-running radio and television police procedural drama about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners. ... Country music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. ... Merle Ronald Haggard (born April 6, 1937) is an American country music singer, guitarist and songwriter. ... Genesis are an English rock band formed in 1967. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the chemical compound. ... I Aint Marching Anymore was Phil Ochs second long player, released on Elektra Records in 1965. ... Philip David Ochs (December 19, 1940–April 9, 1976) was a U.S. protest singer (or, as he preferred, a topical singer), songwriter, musician and recording artist who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and haunting voice. ... Alan Alda (born January 28, 1936) is a five-time Emmy Award-winning, six-time Golden Globe-winning, Academy Award-nominated American actor. ... Serial killers are individuals who have a history of multiple slayings of victims who were usually unknown to them beforehand. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actor. ... Tap Root Manuscript was an album by Neil Diamond, released in 1970. ... Marlon Brando, Jr. ... Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. ... Mutiny on the Bounty, based on the 1932 novel by Charles Nordhoff, is a 1962 film starring Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard. ... For other uses, see Urban legend (disambiguation). ... X-Files intro from first 8 seasons The X-Files was a popular 1990s American science fiction television series created by Chris Carter. ... Kraft Suspense Theatre is a television show that ran from 1961 - 1963. ...

References

"They might even call it kidnapping," I said. "Straight to the gas chamber, like Chessman. And even if you beat that, they'll send you back to Nevada for Rape and Consensual Sodomy" (Thompson 116-117). - Hunter S. Thompson's, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Second Vintage Books Edition, June 1998 Copyright 1971 Hunter S. Thompson

External links

• Caryl Chessman online
• An in depth article on Chessman
• FBI files on Caryl Chessman
• Chessman on Crime Library
• Cell 2455 Death Row at the Internet Movie Database
• Kill Me If You Can at the Internet Movie Database