Barbara Graham
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Barbara Graham (born June 26, 1923 in Oakland , † June 3, 1955 in San Quentin , California ) was an American who was sentenced to death in the gas chamber in 1953 in California for murder . She was the third woman to be gassed in 1955 in San Quentin State Prison.
Before the act
Graham was born Barbara Elaine Wood in Oakland , California. During the Second World War she began to work as a prostitute and slipped more and more into criminal circles. She came into conflict with the law several times. Among other things, she was sentenced to prison for giving someone a false alibi. After she had served this, she moved to Los Angeles, married the criminal Henry Graham and had their third child with him (after two from their earlier, not long-lasting first marriage, whose custody had been awarded to the father).
did
Through Henry Graham she met Jack Santo and Emmet Perkins . Perkins, with whom she was having an affair, told her about a plan to rob 64-year-old rich widow Mabel Monohan. In March 1953, Graham attacked with Perkins, Santo and two other accomplices John True and Baxter Shorter Monohan in their house, whereupon she was killed.
Trial and death sentence
The gang was caught and tried for murder. True made a deal with prosecutors accusing Graham, who claimed not to have been at the scene. Graham damaged her own credibility by trying to get herself a false alibi, which was exposed. As a result, she was at a loss in the process of how to defend herself. She was condemned by the press, which gave her the nickname "Bloody Babs", which Graham later made partly responsible for her death sentence. Although many observers did not believe their guilt, the jury found them and Santo and Perkins guilty later in 1953 without recommending the judge to sentence the three to life imprisonment, leading the judge to a subsequent death sentence Gas chamber legally compulsory. Graham made several unsuccessful attempts to appeal the judgment.
execution
Graham was transferred to San Quentin State Prison and June 3, 1955 was set as the date of execution. She was originally scheduled to be executed at 10 a.m. that day, and after she had been taken to the death chamber several times but had been delayed at the last minute, Graham complained about the torture and asked for eye patches to be allowed to carry during their execution so as not to have to see the witnesses. At 11:28 a.m., she was finally taken into the gas chamber and strapped down. The executioner advised her to take a deep breath ten seconds after the gas began to be released as it would be less painful. Graham replied how the hell he knew. Her last words were: "Good people are always so sure they're right." ( “Good people are always so sure that they are right.” ) Then the gas chamber was locked and the gassing started three minutes later. Graham died at 11:37 a.m. Graham was the third woman to be executed in the California gas chamber. Graham's accomplices, Perkins and Santo, were gassed in the same chamber that same day.
She was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in San Rafael , California .
Films about Graham
Several films have been made about Barbara Graham. In 1958, Susan Hayward Graham starred in Let Me Live ( I Want to Live! ), Which won her an Oscar. In 1983 Lindsay Wagner played Graham in a film of the same name. Both films are directed against the death penalty and explicitly show Graham's gassing, which is why there were intermittent performance bans in Europe. Such is not suitable for evening entertainment, was the reason.
literature
- Kathleen A. Cairns: Proof of Guilt . University of Nebraska, 2013, ISBN 0-8032-4569-6 (American English: Proof of Guilt .).
Individual evidence
- ^ Martha Stout: The Sociopath Next Door: The Ruthless Versus the Rest of Us . Random House, Inc., 2006, ISBN 0-7679-1582-8 , p. 97.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Graham, Barbara |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American murderess |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 26, 1923 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Oakland |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 3, 1955 |
| Place of death | San Quentin , California |