Chessman caryl biography of michael

Caryl Chessman, born in St. Joseph, Michigan, in 1921, grew up in Glendale, California. During the Depression, Chessman began stealing food to provide for his family. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Chessman was in and out of jail for auto theft. In January 1948, the state of California charged Caryl Chessman with eighteen counts of robbery, sexual assault, and kidnapping.

Caryl Chessman (1921–1960) - uscivilliberties.org

Two female victims identified Chessman as the ‘‘red light bandit,’’ a rapist who used a red light to impersonate police officers. Because Chessman had forcibly removed his victims from their vehicles, he was charged under California’s ‘‘Little Lindbergh Law’’ that carried the death penalty.

Chessman’s capital conviction and unprecedented twelve-year stay on death row fundamentally shaped public opinion and legal precedents on the death penalty nationwide.

At trial Chessman rebuffed the services of a defense attorney and def Cell 2455 Death Row - Wikipedia POB