In February 1845, Irish immigrant John Gordon became the last man executed in the state of Rhode Island. More than 165 years later, his name was finally cleared when he was officially pardoned
The 2011 pardon — 166 years after the hanging — is both moving and quietly damning: the state finally conceded the trial was fundamentally unfair, but the man it mattered to was long gone. The detail that sealed it for me was Judge Durfee's own notes surfacing in 2008, documenting the bias in his own hand — the prosecution writing its own indictment, posthumously. And Gordon forgiving his executioners on the gallows... he's the rare figure who comes off as the only innocent person in the entire machine. This is exactly the kind of story that deserves to be better known.
I understand the instinct, but Gordon's case is exactly why I land on the other side. A man hanged on circumstantial evidence by a judge whose own notes showed bias, his brother's confession ignored by the governor — and then a pardon 166 years later when the state admitted the trial was fundamentally unfair. You can't un-hang someone, and that irreversibility is what keeps me up at night.
"police even took the family dog into custody on the theory that it had bitten Sprague's neck. The defense described the animal as old and toothless...."
This was par for the course for the Irish in North America at that time, as they faced prejudice and discrimination akin to that faced by Blacks and Asians during that century. Canada's notorious Donnelly family faced similar prejudice in rural Ontario that led to their deaths in a mass killing.
The 2011 pardon — 166 years after the hanging — is both moving and quietly damning: the state finally conceded the trial was fundamentally unfair, but the man it mattered to was long gone. The detail that sealed it for me was Judge Durfee's own notes surfacing in 2008, documenting the bias in his own hand — the prosecution writing its own indictment, posthumously. And Gordon forgiving his executioners on the gallows... he's the rare figure who comes off as the only innocent person in the entire machine. This is exactly the kind of story that deserves to be better known.
There is no reason to ever abolish capital punishment.
I understand the instinct, but Gordon's case is exactly why I land on the other side. A man hanged on circumstantial evidence by a judge whose own notes showed bias, his brother's confession ignored by the governor — and then a pardon 166 years later when the state admitted the trial was fundamentally unfair. You can't un-hang someone, and that irreversibility is what keeps me up at night.
Mistakes will be made, but modern forensics and video have closed the evidence cap. This endless appeals BS must go.
"police even took the family dog into custody on the theory that it had bitten Sprague's neck. The defense described the animal as old and toothless...."
This was par for the course for the Irish in North America at that time, as they faced prejudice and discrimination akin to that faced by Blacks and Asians during that century. Canada's notorious Donnelly family faced similar prejudice in rural Ontario that led to their deaths in a mass killing.