Pardon Set for Black Woman Executed in '45

[Eugene]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5212472,00.html

Pardon Set for Black Woman Executed in '45


Tuesday August 16, 2005 1:01 AM

AP Photo GAEM601

By ELLIOTT MINOR

Associated Press Writer

rs 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
Aug. 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.

<snip>

During her brief trial, Baker testified that E.B. Knight, a man she
had been hired to care for, held her against her will in a grist mill
and threatened to shoot her if she tried to leave. She said she
grabbed Knight's gun and shot him when he raised a metal bar to
strike her.

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