The Innocents (1964)
by Edward D. Radin

Excerpt on

George White
 

There are, of course, many other cases, but they are quite similar in that the victim picks out a photograph from the police files and later makes positive identification when he views the suspect in person. Months or years later it is discovered that the man so identified is innocent. In small communities the collection of police photographs might be kept in a cigar box. One pulled out of such a box in Greenville, Texas, brought about the arrest of George White on a robbery charge. In 1959, after White had served seven years in prison, the real robber confessed and White was released. He had been tried without a lawyer, and he had had no funds to prove that he had been in another state at the time of the crime.


APPENDIX

GEORGE WHITE, Greenville, Texas
Trial, November, 1951, District Court; convicted by jury, armed robbery; sentence, 15 years. No defense lawyer appointed. Pardoned by Governor Price Daniel, May, 1959. Imprisoned 7½ years. Actual culprit confessed. No compensation.