Editing Caryl Chessman (section)

==Crimes and conviction==
In the first three weeks of January 1948, a number of robberies and thefts were reported throughout the [[Greater Los Angeles Area]]. On January 3, two men robbed a [[haberdashery]] in [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]] with a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol. On January 13, a 1946 Ford coupe was stolen from a Pasadena street. On January 18, a man driving a car described as a 1947 Ford coupe fitted with a police red light stopped a vehicle near [[Malibu Beach]], then used a .45 caliber pistol to rob the vehicle's occupants. Later that day a second couple were robbed in the same manner near the [[Rose Bowl (stadium)|Rose Bowl]].<ref name="james186">{{cite book|last=James|first=Bill|title=Popular Crime: Reflections on the Celebration of Violence|year=2012|publisher=Scribner|isbn=978-1-416-55274-1|page=186}}</ref> Police quickly began to suspect a common perpetrator,<ref name="hamm"/> and Los Angeles newspapers dubbed the suspect "The Red Light Bandit."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-sep-19-et-book19-story.html|title=Caryl Chessman's infamous death row case is revisited|last=Ulin|first=David L.|date=September 19, 2006|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=December 22, 2014}}</ref> On January 19, a third couple were robbed as they sat parked on a hill in West Pasadena, and the woman, Regina Johnson, was forced to perform oral sex on her assailant.<ref name="hamm"/><ref name="james186"/> On January 22, a fourth couple returning home from a church dance was pulled over on [[Mulholland Drive]]. The assailant dragged the girl, 17-year-old Mary Alice Meza, a short distance to his vehicle. Her boyfriend then drove away and was pursued by the assailant. After an unsuccessful attempt to force the male victim off the road, the perpetrator drove Meza to a secluded area where he forced her to engage in oral and anal sex, threatening to kill her boyfriend if she did not comply.<ref name="james7">James (2012), p. 187.</ref>

The following day, police in [[North Hollywood]] attempted to stop a 1946 Ford coupe matching the description given by Meza and her boyfriend, and also by witnesses to a robbery at a clothing store in [[Redondo Beach, California|Redondo Beach]] earlier that day.<ref name="james7"/> After a high-speed chase, the vehicle's occupants, Chessman and David Knowles, were captured and arrested. After a 72-hour interrogation, during which Chessman later claimed he was beaten and tortured, Chessman confessed to the "Red Light Bandit" crimes. He was also positively identified by the rape victims, Johnson and Meza.<ref>Hamm (2001), p. 4</ref> In late January 1948, Chessman was indicted on 18 counts of [[robbery]], [[kidnapping]], and [[rape]]. After a three-week trial in May, he was convicted on 17 of the 18 counts,<ref name="james8">James (2012), p. 188.</ref> and was [[capital punishment|sentenced to death]].<ref>{{cite magazine|date=February 22, 1960|title=A Strange Meeting In Prison|magazine=Life|publisher=Time Inc.|volume=48|issue=7|page=30|issn=0024-3019|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gFUEAAAAMBAJ&q=caryl+chessman+red+light+bandit&pg=PA30}}</ref> The prosecution was led by district attorney [[J. Miller Leavy]].<ref>{{cite news| work= [[The New York Times]] | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/06/us/j-miller-leavy-89-prosecuted-celebrated-cases.html|title=J. Miller Leavy, 89; Prosecuted Celebrated Cases|date= January 7, 1995 |page=A25 }}</ref> Chessman's accomplice, Knowles, was tried and convicted as an accessory in the store robberies, but his conviction was reversed on appeal in 1950 due to an absence of direct incriminating evidence and "impermissible abuse of the law."<ref name="james8"/>