Editing Caryl Chessman (section)

==Appeals and controversy==

Part of the controversy surrounding the Chessman case stemmed from the state's unusual application of the death penalty. At the time, under California's version of the [[Federal Kidnapping Act|"Little Lindbergh Law,"]] a crime that involved [[kidnapping]] with bodily harm could be considered a [[Capital punishment|capital offense]]. Two of the counts against Chessman alleged that he dragged Johnson 22 feet from her car before demanding oral sex, and that he abducted Meza against her will, driving her a considerable distance before raping her.<ref>{{cite court |litigants=People v. Chessman |vol=38 |reporter=Cal. 2d  |opinion=166 |date=1951 |url=http://law.justia.com/cases/california/cal2d/38/166.html}}</ref> The court ruled that both actions fit the law's definition of kidnapping with bodily harm, thus making Chessman subject to the death penalty under the law. The law was repealed by the time his trial began but was in effect at the time of the crimes; the repeal was not applied retroactively.<ref>{{cite court |litigants=People v. Chessman |vol=52 |reporter=Cal. 2d |opinion=467 |date=1959 |url=http://law.justia.com/cases/california/cal2d/52/467.html}}</ref>

Chessman asserted his innocence from the outset, arguing throughout the trial and the appeals process that he was alternately the victim of mistaken identity, or of a conspiracy to frame him; he also claimed to know the identity of the real perpetrator, but refused to reveal it. He further alleged that the confession he signed during his initial police interrogation was [[coercion|coerced]] through force and intimidation.<ref name="9thCir">{{cite court |litigants=Chessman v. People, et al. |vol=205 |reporter=F.2d |opinion=128 |court=9th Cir. |date=1953 |url=http://openjurist.org/205/f2d/128/chessman-v-people }}</ref>

Over the course of nearly twelve years on death row Chessman filed dozens of [[appeal]]s, acting as his own attorney, and successfully avoided eight [[execution]] deadlines, often by a few hours. Most appeals were based on assertions that he was forced to go to trial unprepared; that the trial itself was unfair; that confessions obtained by force and intimidation and promises of partial immunity were used in evidence against him; that California's "Little Lindbergh Law" was unconstitutional; and that the transcript of record forwarded upon appeal to the state supreme court was incomplete, and important parts of the proceedings were missing or incorrectly recorded.<ref name="9thCir"/> In 1957 the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] ordered the State of California to conduct a full review of the transcripts. The review concluded that the transcripts were substantially accurate.<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Chessman v. Teets |vol=354 |reporter=U.S. |opinion=156 |date=1957 |url=http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/354/156/ }}</ref>

Chessman also took his case to the public through letters, essays and books. His four books—''[[Cell 2455, Death Row]]''; ''Trial by Ordeal''; ''The Face of Justice''; and ''The Kid Was a Killer''—became bestsellers. He sold the rights to ''Cell 2455, Death Row'' to [[Columbia Pictures]], which made a [[Cell 2455, Death Row (1955 film)|1955 film of the same name]], directed by [[Fred F. Sears]], with [[William Campbell (film actor)|William Campbell]] as Chessman. Chessman's middle name, Whittier, was used as the surname of his alter ego protagonist in the film. The manuscript of his fourth book, ''The Kid Was a Killer,'' was seized by San Quentin warden [[Harley O. Teets]] in 1954 as a product of “prison labor." It was eventually returned to Chessman in late 1957, and published in 1960.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2007/11/caryl-chessman.html|title=Caryl Chessman|date=November 26, 2007}}</ref>

Chessman's books and public campaign ignited a worldwide movement to spare his life, while focusing attention on the larger question of the death penalty in the United States, at a time when most Western countries had abandoned it, or were in the process of doing so. The office of [[Governor of California|California Governor]] [[Pat Brown]] was flooded with appeals for [[clemency]] from noted authors and intellectuals from around the world, including [[Aldous Huxley]], [[Ray Bradbury]], [[Norman Mailer]], [[Dwight Macdonald]], and [[Robert Frost]], and from such other public figures as former First Lady [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], [[Marlon Brando]], and [[Billy Graham]].<ref>[http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/la/scandals/chessman.html Caryl Chessman, The Red-Light Bandit] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080525015632/http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/la/scandals/chessman.html |date=May 25, 2008 }}</ref>

The Chessman affair put Brown, an opponent of the death penalty, in a difficult position. He was unable to grant Chessman executive [[clemency]] as the California Constitution required the commutation of a two-time felon's death sentence to be ratified by the [[California Supreme Court]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/.const/.article_5|title=California Constitution: Article 5|publisher=leginfo.ca.gov|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110108203419/http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/.const/.article_5|archive-date=January 8, 2011|df=mdy-all}}</ref> which declined ratification by a vote of 4–3.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biography.com/people/caryl-chessman-17169566|title=Caryl Chessman: Biography|publisher=biography.com|access-date=August 25, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223025611/http://www.biography.com/people/caryl-chessman-17169566|archive-date=December 23, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> After a long period of inaction Brown finally issued a 60-day stay a few hours before the February 19, 1960, scheduled execution. He issued the stay, he said, out of concern that the execution could threaten the safety of President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] during an official visit to [[South America]], where the Chessman case had inflamed anti-American sentiment.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/world/americas/20rubottom.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries Obituary: R. Richard Rubottom], ''New York Times'', December 20, 2010; accessed June 2, 2014.</ref> Pat Brown's son and future Governor [[Jerry Brown|Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown]] unsuccessfully lobbied his father to spare Chessman.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://magazine.lmu.edu/articles/californias-catholic-browns/ | title=California's Catholic Browns | date=July 22, 2020 }}</ref>