Not Guilty: Thirty Six Actual Cases in Which
An Innocent Man Was Convicted (1957)
by Judge Jerome Frank and Barbara Frank

Excerpt from Chapter 7 on

Joseph Huett

In August 1935, in Reynolds County, Missouri, a sawmill worker, Raoul Hunter, was killed. There were three people present: Lee Bowles, justice of the peace, Joseph Huett, a lawyer, and Huett's wife. Bowles told the police that Huett had killed Hunter without provocation because of a long-standing political feud. Bowles so testified at Huett's trial. The jury convicted Huett of manslaughter, after which he was sentenced to a five-year term. Seven months later Bowles confessed to the police that he had perjured himself at Huett's trial because Hunter had been his friend and "I hated Huett." Actually Hunter had been gunning for Huett, who had shot him in self-defense. Shortly after Bowles's confession Huett was released.

SOURCE

1. Philadelphia Inquirer, April 30, 1936.