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The Happiest Littlest Hobo on Death Row: The Tragic Story of Joe Arridy
Description
Joe Arridy was 23 years old when Colorado executed him for a murder he almost certainly did not commit. Arridy had an intellectual disability and was highly suggestible. Police obtained a confession implicating him in the rape and murder of 15-year-old Dorothy Drain, but evidence later showed serious problems with the confession and with the prosecution's case.
Even as his execution approached, Arridy's attorneys fought desperately to stop it. He received nine stays of execution before finally being killed in the gas chamber on January 6, 1939. More than seven decades later, he was pardoned by the governor of Colorado.
It's a heartbreaking story about false confessions, the death penalty, and what happens when the justice system gets it catastrophically wrong.
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