Jun 23, 2020
Before God, I am innocent of the crime for which I'm about to die, Sir! I am innocent. I'm innocent. What can I do when I'm buried? An Oak tree with a hundred roots will grow out of my grave to prove my innocence.
This was the dying declaration of Charles RS Boyington. Perhaps Mobile, Alabama's most notorious convicted the defendant of capital murder, the May 10th, 1834 killing of Nathaniel Frost in the Church Street Cemetery in Mobile, Alabama. It's perhaps the most heinous and memorable crime in Mobile's history. Most heinous not necessarily for the brutality and depravity of the murder, but for the nagging question burned into every Mobilian psyche who has ever heard the story. Did Charles Boyington murder his friend, Nathaniel Frost? Was he innocent? Contemporary accounts leave no doubt as to Boyington guilt, but over the last 150 years, new facts have come to light, and more importantly, new witnesses have come forward. Today the case stands as a testament to the dangers of capital punishment predicated solely upon circumstantial evidence. There were no witnesses presented at trial to the crime, and Boyington maintained his innocence until his dying breath.
Boyington Oak: A Grave Injustice >>> Buy
Here
On this episode, host Matt Green talks with Mary Palmer, author of a fascinating new book Boyington Oak: A Grave Injustice, about this case, and is spearheading an effort to have Boyington posthumously pardoned. Mary tells us some more details about this famous case, and it's defendant Charles Boyington.
{Editors Note: 2 corrections in the
Boyington story. The printing company is Pollard and Dade
not Dade and Pollard. Also, Florence White's deathbed
confession was 60 years (not 30) after the crime in 1894. It was
said that she produced the watch on her deathbed.}
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This podcast is sponsored by The Law Office of Matt Green and produced by Johnny Gwin at Deep Fried Studios located in Mobile, Alabama.