Pardon Sought in 1908 Execution That Was Really a Lynching

The Center on Wrongful Convictions and Northeastern University School of Law’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project filed a petition seeking a pardon for a Black man executed in 1908. According to The Associated Press, the racial tensions in Illinois jeopardized the possibility of a fair trial. Joe James was accused of murdering a white man in Springfield, Ill. over 100 years ago. The report says hours after the incident, he was woken out of a drunken sleep under a park tree by a mob of white men who beat...