Steven Truscott - Guilty or Innocent?.
In the year 1959, Steven Truscott, only 14 years old, was sentenced to hang for the murder of 12 year-old Lynn Harper. Trustcott's sentence was commuted and instead he spent 10 years in prison but it wasn't until almost 40 years later that he proclaimed his innocence. This essay will talk about the alleged crime that took place and some of the evidence used against Truscott to convict him and how we now realize most of that evidence had been twisted to make Truscott look guilty. Some controversial evidence used to convict Truscott is the time of death, the injuries that were said to have been found on Truscott and Harper, the footprints found at the crime scene, and the bicycle tire marks that were found in the ground near the crime scene. .
It was a hot and muggy evening in June. 14 year-old Steven Truscott decided he was going to take one of his classmates, 12 year-old Lynn Harper, for a bike ride out to the highway. After dropping her off Truscott returned home. Lynn Harper was found raped and murdered two days later. Truscott was charged with the murder of Harper and after a two week trial, was found guilty and sentenced to be hung. .
The main evidence that was used to convict Truscott was Lynn Harper's time of death. The local coroner, Dr. John Penistan, examined the stomach contents of Harper and was able to come to the conclusion that she died between 7:15 pm and 7:45 pm which was exactly when she was with Truscott that night. But now we've discovered that the findings are only compatible with the death within 2 hours of her last meal. This means she could have died up to 12 hours later than predicted or even longer. .
More evidence that was used to convict Truscott were the injuries on both Truscott and Harper, the footprints, and the bicycle tire marks left from Truscott's bike. When the bruises were first examined on Harper's vagina the examiner recorded there was a contusion but the second time it was examined with a microscope and there was no bruising at all.