charged, he told police that Marcinkiewicz had been staying with the Majczek family. The police raided the Majczek home on December 22, 1932, and though Marcinkiewicz wasn't there, they took Joseph Majczek into custody. Majczek asserted that Vera Walush had not identified him in two separate lineups on December 22, but by December 23 Walush was able to positively identify him. The police then wrote a false report stating that Majczek had been arrested on December 23, the day Walush had identified him. Walush later positively identified Marcinkiewicz when he surrendered on January 23, 1933. Walker Butler McGuire located the original arrest report corroborating Majczek's contention that he had been arrested on December 22. When the State's Attorney's Office refused to reopen the case based on McGuire's new evidence, the Times hired well-known lawyer Walker Butler to seek a pardon for Majczek, ignoring the similarly situated Marcinkiewicz. In addition to claims that Majczek appeared to have been framed, Butler also developed a substantial claim that Majczek's trial attorney, W.W. O'Brien, had performed incompetently. Key witnesses of dubious credibility provided damaging testimony against Marcinkiewicz. One of these, Bessie Barron, claimed Marcinkiewicz had told her he was going to rob Walush's speakeasy. The other, Bruno Uginchus, testified that after the murder Marcinkiewicz said "he had a little trouble." Whilst neither of these statements related to Majczek, O'Brien failed to object to their admission. O'Brien also failed to cross-examine Vera Walush on her initial inability to identify him. These issues had not been raised on appeal because O'Brien handled it as well. Exoneration On August 15, 1945, Majczek received a full pardon based on innocence from Illinois Governor Dwight H. Green. However, Marcinkiewicz remained locked up. He was legally exonerated through a state habeas corpus proceeding in 1950. Life Magazine photographed Majczek, Marcinkiewicz and McGuire all leaving the jail house together. Both men were later compensated by special appropriations — $24,000 for Majczek and $35,000 for Marcinkiewicz. Majczek died in 1983 aged 73. Further reading Scotti Cohn, It Happened in Chicago (2009), Globe Pequot () John J. McPhaul, Deadlines & Monkeyshines: The Fabled World of Chicago Journalism (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Pretice-Hall, Inc., 1962), pp. 190–204. See also List of wrongful convictions in the United States References External links The Wrongful Convictions Project Victims of the State, summaries of over 950 wrongful U.S. convictions Illinois law Overturned convictions in the United States