Harry Gleason: Anatomy of the first post-humous exoneration in Ireland's history; Bravo to the Irish Innocence Project (David Langwallner and Tertius Van Eeden) and to American pathologist Dr. Peter Cummings who reviewed the autopsy and made a crucial finding as to the time of death. (Must Read. HL;)

STORY: Harry Gleason hanged, but was innocent," by Rozena Ceossman, pubished by OZY on June 19, 2015.

GIST:  "Late one night in April 1941, an Irish farmhand called for his lawyer, Seán MacBride, to share a final few words with the man who’d desperately tried to save him. “I will pray tomorrow that whoever did it will be discovered … I rely on you, then, to clear my name.” Harry Gleeson added that he had no confession to make because he simply didn’t do it. But he swung just hours later.
MacBride would accomplish great things, like helping found Amnesty International and winning the Nobel Peace Prize, but he was not able to clear Gleeson’s name. That task fell to David Langwallner and Tertius Van Eeden of the Irish Innocence Project, whose research shone a light on a shameful miscarriage of justice and led to Gleeson’s exoneration this year — the first posthumous pardon in the history of the Free State of Ireland. Gleeson could not possibly have killed her, and the authorities knew it.........When the Irish Innocence Project took on the case in 2012 at the behest of the Justice for Harry Gleeson group, they did so with new evidence, modern technology and political stability — all of which were lacking 70 years ago. American pathologist Dr. Peter Cummings was called on to review McCarthy’s autopsy, and he confirmed that the time of death was in the early morning, when it had been established that Gleeson was making his rounds. By poring over trial manuscripts, Van Eeden discovered that the judge had asked for a gun register that recorded Gleeson’s ammunition, but the prosecution never provided it. But the Justice for Harry Gleeson group, composed of Gleeson’s remaining family and friends, had found the document, which showed that the defendant’s gun used different bullets than those fired by the killer......... Elated by its success, the Irish Innocence Project will host its first International Conference on Wrongful Convictions and film festival on June 26 and 27 in Dublin. Invited guests include actors Aidan Quinn, Bob Balaban and Tony Goldwyn and director Ken Burns. Driscoll hopes the events “will increase public awareness, promote the role of law and the media in addressing this issue, and inspire a new generation of young people to get involved.” Films, after all, are a great vehicle for helping folks “understand a complex social issue like wrongful convictions,” she says. Gleeson’s is not the only posthumous victory. Describing the trial as “one of the most traumatic cases” he was ever involved in, MacBride continued to campaign against Ireland’s death penalty, which was eventually abolished in 1990 — two years after his own death."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.ozy.com/flashback/harry-gleeson-hanged-but-was-innocent/60694