Has anyone ever ben posthumously pardoned after being executed?

Question

No it's not a 'nut' question , it's to settle a arguement.

Answer 1

Is there money on this one?

In the UK, since 1945, three people have received posthumous pardons: Timothy Evans in 1966 and in 1998 both Mahood Mattan and Derek Bentley. The Timothy Evans case brought in the end of capital punishment in the UK, when it was found (too late) that Evans was innocent of murder.
http://www.stephen-stratford.co.uk/capital_hist.htm
August 15, 2005: the only woman ever executed in Georgia's electric chair is being granted a posthumous pardon, 60 years after the black maid was put to death for killing a white man she claimed held her in slavery and threatened her life.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4818124
British WWI soldiers: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/UK_seeks_pardon_for_executed_World_War_I_soldiers

Canada's Meti rebel leader Louis Riel has had several bills presented in Parliament on his behalf (130 years too late), but none have passed so far, although it is universally accepted that he should not have been hanged.

Answer 2

No, not really. A pardon is given to release a guilty person from their sentence. Posthumously it would be completely pointless. However I do believe there have been a few cases of a conviction being overturned after the prisoner was executed. The difference here is that an overturned conviction clears the person's record, they are not guilty of the crime. But a pardon just means they've convinced the authorities that he's truly reformed, but he still is guilty of the original crime.

Answer 3

When Is a Pardon Operative?

In the early 1800's, President Andrew Jackson issued a full pardon to George Wilson, a man sentenced to be hanged. Wilson refused it. But could he legally refuse the President's pardon? Supreme Court Justice John Marshall declared, "The value of the pardon depends upon its acceptance. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must hang." And Wilson was hanged. Although this is not a posthumous pardon I just found it interesting.

gatita_63109

Answer 4

Lots of people have been posthumously pardoned , for various offenses, as for pardon after execution it has happend a lot in military courts. lots of guys executed for crimes like cowardice have been pardoned post war,Britain pardoned around 300 from WWI as recently as 2006.Pardoning historic criminals,rebels and traitors isnt uncommon either, the govoner of new mexico periodically looks at pardoning Billy the kid for instance tho he wouldnt count since he wasnt executed . ..less common would be posthumous execution , I think Oliver cromwell would be the most famous guy ever sentenced and executed after he was already dead

Answer 5

YEs.
In the 1950s in England Timothy Evans was hanged for the murder of his wife and baby.
A few years later John Christie who shared the address with Evans was hanged for the murder of several women who were found buried at that address.
It later emerged that Christie was guilty of the murders for which Evans had been hanged.
It took several decades of campaigning for Evans to get a posthumous pardon

Answer 6

Timothy John Evans I knew (Christie was the murderer, right?), but not the others, so thank you, Snow Globe.

The celebrated 1921 case of Sacco and Vanzetti, which resulted in their executions (1927) after worldwide outcry, was more or less resolved in 1977, when then-governor of Massachusetts Michael Dukakis "cleared" them with a special proclamation.

There is also the convoluted case of Leo Frank, who was sentenced to death in the early 1900s. After the Florida governor commuted his sentence to life imprisonment (evidence was weak and Frank was an easy target because he was a Jew), a mob subsequently broke Frank out of jail and lynched him. He was officially exonerated decades later when an eyewitness (an African-American too frightened to testify on Frank's behalf at the time) came forward with exculpatory testimony.

So who won the bet????