The Red Light Bandit

Caryl Chessman long claimed that he was innocent of the kidnapping and rape charges that sent him to death row.
Chessman was a 27-year-old parolee from Folsom Prison who had spent the better part of his adult life in and out of prison when in January 1948 he was arrested in Los Angeles as the Red-Light Bandit. The Bandit would approach victims parked in lonely spots, flash a red light resembling that used by the police, and rob the victims -- sometimes taking the woman to another area and forcing her to perform sexual acts with him.

His 12-year battle for a new trial and the publication of 4 books from death row transformed the prisoner rights movement by humanizing death row and casting well-deserved doubt on the fairness of the death penalty. His first book, Cell 2455 Death Row, sold more than half a million copies and was translated into 18 languages. Throughout those 12 years, Chessman always maintained his innocence and claimed that he knew the identity of the real red-light bandit. But out of a desire to protect people close to him who were threatened, he refused to release the name.

In The Face of Justice, Chessman claims that he arranged for proof of the identify of the real red-light bandit to be released 50 years to the day after California rejected a moratorium on the death penalty. We estimate that date to be sometime in the middle of 2007. Caryl Chessman was executed on May 2, 1960.

http://www.prisonsucks.com/carylchessman/