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Gov Edmund Gerald Pat Brown Sr — Part 7

50 pages · May 09, 2026 · Document date: Dec 4, 1957 · Broad topic: General · Topic: Gov Edmund Gerald Pat Brown Sr · 50 pages OCR'd
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| trial for killing--there are a number of mistakes, Brown cites the case of John Henry Fry whom he pardoned after Fry had been wrongfully convicted of killing his wife. The article mentions the case of John Rexinger who was arrested for rape in San Francisco in 1957, and who was saved when the actual criminal confessed to the crime. Another example is the case of James Foster, who was convicted of murder in Georgia in 1956 and who, after numerous appeals and stays of execution, Was released in 1958 after another man confessed to the crime. Noting that eye-witness identification is the decisive point on which many murder convictions are obtained, the article points out that a Los Angeles Police Department survey once indicated that 28 per cent of identifications made of suspects in line-ups are later proved false. COMMENT: COMMEN’= While it cannot be determined what period of time Brown used in tarriving at the figure of 48 persons executed on a yearly average, it is noted {that during the past 10 years, an average of 72 persons were executed each year. Bufiles contain no information identifiable with James Foster; however, the following information on Fry and Rexinger was obtained from the files of the Identification Division. It is noted that prior to his arrest for murder in San ¥rancisco in 1958, Fry was arrested no less than 8 times for intoxication, assault and battery, violation of parole and other charges. Since his pardon by Governor Brown on the murder charge in June, 1959, Fry has managed to get arrested on three occasions in San Francisco for assault with a dangerous weapon, defrauding an innkeeper, and battery. Prior to his arrest for rape in 1957, Rexinger had been arrested on 4 occasions for rape, robbery, and forgery. Subsequent to being released on the rape charge in 1957, Rexinger was arrested three times for theft, larceny and fraudulent checks. Bufiles contain no information relating to the Los Angeles Police Department survey of line-ups. STATEMENT: The article sets forth a very brief summary of the history of the death penalty in which it is pointed out that Austria was the first nation to abolish capital punishment, that France is the only country in Western suurope still using the death penalty, that most South American countries have abolished capital punishment, and that the Soviet Union says it inflicts it only for political crimes. COMMENT: The above history of capital punishment is factual based upon an article in the 3-3-60 issue of the "New York Times." -5-
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