Jeannie Angel

Date of Incident:

Date of Conviction: 13-10-1989

Exoneration Date: 8-10-1991

Charge: Murder

Conviction: Murder

Sentence: Life Imprisonment

Sentence Served: 2 years

Contributing Causes: Poor police investigation and false confession

Compensation: Yes

Jeannie ANGEL

Jeannie Angel was convicted on a charge of murder following her trial on October 13, 1989.

The police case against Angel rested upon the fact she and the deceased had an altercation on the day the deceased was thought to have been killed. It was alleged Angel struck the deceased on the head and jumped upon her stomach, thus causing fatal injuries. This was supported by a "confession" Angel made stating that she alone was responsible for the death. That alleged confession was claimed to have been given by Angel when she was in custody at Roebourne on March 30, 1989.

Conflicting evidence was brought to the attention of the investigating officers on the same day. A witness reported seeing the deceased on the day of her death drinking with a group of Wiluna and Jigalong women. Such an explanation was plausible because they were of the same people and spoke the same language. The witness named the women. She said she believed these women had killed the deceased and left unexpectedly to return to Newman that same evening.

The police did not investigate that information.

It was later shown her conviction was founded on evidence that was, at best, unreliable. The investigating police had, at the time of trial, evidence which supported her “not guilty” plea. She spent more than two years in prison until that evidence was rediscovered. Only then was her plea supported by the Court of Criminal Appeal. Her conviction was quashed as "unsafe and unsatisfactory" on October 8, 1991.

T H E I N N O C E N C E P R O J E C T WA

THE FACES OF

EXONERATION

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