The Execution of Lena Baker
by TChris
Death penalty supporters who confidently proclaim that the truely innocent are never executed should consider the case of Lena Baker. Here's what John Cole Vodicka, director of Georgia's Prison & Jail Project, says about the circumstances of her 1945 execution.
"This black woman was wrongfully prosecuted and executed because she was defending herself against a white man who repeatedly sexually abused her," Cole Vodicka said. "Lena Baker was tried without proper legal representation."
Vodicka said Baker killed a white man in March 1945, who tried to rape her. He said Baker final words were, “I did it in self-defense, or I would have killed myself..." Baker was convicted by an all white male jury in a one-day trial.
Lena Baker is the only woman to die in Georgia's electric chair. She was honored at a memorial on Saturday.
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