Search Results: the trial confessions and conviction of by sargeant leonard

Paperback / softback. New.

Gale, Making of Modern Law, 2012-02-21. Paperback. Good.

Manchester, VT: Journal Book and Job Office, 1873. Soft Cover. Good. Wrappers lightly spotted, minor loss from corners. 1873 Soft Cover. 48 pp. Sewn binding, printed wrappers. An account of the conviction and execution of two men for murder. Because of the loss of documentary evidence in the burning of the Bennington courthouse, and the state house at Montpelier, a full account of the trial had not previously been published. The author was formerly the lieutenant governor of Vermont.

Manchester, VT: Journal Book and Job Office, 1873. Original Wrappers. Very Good binding. Octavo. 48 pp. First edition. As issued, stitched into printed wrappers. Rear wrapper has several creases to the top corner from folding; covers lightly soiled; spine a bit worn; a small chip to the fore-edge margin of the final leaf, no affecting text; all in all a well preserved copy. The trial of the Boorns "is one of the most famous cases in Ameircan criminal law and a constant reminder that innocent persons can be convicted. Russell Colvin, the alleged victim, had married a sister of the Boorns and had several children by her. He was mentally deficient and disappeared in 1812. Local gossip credited the Boorns with having disposed of him, prsumably because he was a burden on the family. In the spring of 1819 . . . the Boorns were arrested and, either from fear or mental weakness, they told stories involving each other in the death of Colvin. A farmer in Monmouth County, New Jersey, believed he recognized a… Read More

Manchester, VT: Journal Book and Job Office, 1873. First Edition. 48 pp, in original printed wrappers. Mild toning; near fine. Published 54 years after the fact, this is an account of the wrongful conviction of brothers Jesse and Stephen Boorn for the murder of their mentally deficient brother-in-law, who was eventually discovered (just six weeks before Stephen Boorn was scheduled for execution) to have wandered off of his own accord. Sargeant, who was one of the Boorns' defense attorneys, concludes his narrative with a general discussion of (and warning about) the fallibility of investigators, witnesses, and juries. McDade 113.

Manchester, VT: Journal Book and Job Office, 1873. First Edition. Octavo (23cm.); publisher's tan wrappers printed within double rule, early 20th-century paper spine reinforcement; 48pp. Light dust-soil and spotting to wrappers, short closed tear to fore-edge of rear wrapper not approaching text, else Very Good and sound. First full account of the first American example of wrongful conviction, authored nearly fifty years after the fact by the defendants' junior trial counsel Leonard Sargeant (1793-1880). Russell Colvin, brother-in-law of the Boorn brothers, disappeared from Manchester in 1812 and was presumed dead and possibly even murdered, though a body was never found. Seven years after his disappearance, Amos Boorn, the brothers' uncle, claimed to have been visited by Colvin's ghost, who informed him that he had been murdered and buried in a cellar hole on the Boorn family potato farm. A search was made of the cellar hole and several articles of clothing, though no body, was uncovered and… Read More