Lena Baker - Maid pardoned 60 years after execution

[undergroundrailroad]

Maid pardoned 60 years after execution




Monday, August 15, 2005; Posted: 11:02 p.m. EDT (03:02 GMT)

ALBANY, Georgia (AP) -- The only woman ever executed in Georgia's electric chair is being granted a posthumous pardon, 60 years after the black maid was put to death for killing a white man she claimed held her in slavery and threatened her life.
The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has decided to pardon Lena Baker and plans to present a proclamation to her descendants at its August 30 meeting in Atlanta, board spokeswoman Scheree Lipscomb said Monday.

The board did not find Baker innocent of the crime, Lipscomb said. Members instead found the decision to deny her clemency in 1945 "was a grievous error, as this case called out for mercy," Lipscomb said.

Baker was sentenced to die following a one-day trial before an all-white, all-male jury in Georgia.

"I believe she's somewhere around God's throne and can look down and smile," said Baker's grandnephew, Roosevelt Curry, who has led the family's effort to clear her name.

[Karenina]

1. ...

[msgadget]

2. It does little good

because the people involved are long dead but, I guess, as an apology of sorts. Still, I can't help thinking its too little, too late... Ah, well, the calendar can't be turned back and it is a reminder of how few rights we had.

[Swamp Rat]

3. Isn't "posthumous pardon" really an oxymoron?

END THE DEATH PENALTY NOW!