[chris]

Caryl Chessman was a California death-row prisoner convicted in the 'Red Light Bandit' case, whose trial and repeated execution stays drew national attention. The FBI file concerns requests that the Bureau review allegations of injustice in his prosecution, rather than a federal investigation of the underlying crimes. Released records include a 1949 letter from Wenzell Brown and the American Writers Committee to Save Chessman, with material challenging witness Mary Alice Meza's reliability and the accuracy of the trial transcript. A 1951 Justice Department memorandum states that no FBI investigation was desired because the relevant events predated June 1948 and the three-year statute of limitations had expired. Later correspondence from 1955 shows J. Edgar Hoover declining requests to intervene in Chessman's execution case.

FBI file number: 44-7760 | Documents span: 1949-1955 | Released in 4 parts
Names in this file: Caryl Chessman, Wenzell Brown, Mary Alice Meza, Warren Olney III, J. Edgar Hoover, Stanley Frazer, Whittier S. Chessman
Subjects: civil rights, death penalty, criminal appeals, trial transcript, FBI correspondence