Voting Station

Caryl Chessman

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Outlaw

The Resume

    (May 27, 1921-May 2, 1960)
    Born in St. Joseph, Michigan
    Arrested as Los Angeles' 'Red Light Bandit'
    Convicted of robbery, rape and kidnapping
    Sentenced to death on the kidnapping charges
    Won a record eight stays of execution
    Wrote 'Cell 2455, Death Row' (1954), 'Trial By Ordeal' (1955) and 'The Face of Justice' (1957)
    Executed in the San Quentin gas chamber

Why he might be annoying:

    He was a career criminal who spent most of his adult life behind bars.
    As the 'Red Light Bandit,' he flashed a red light to trick drivers into thinking he was a police officer.
    When the drivers opened their windows or exited the car, he would rob them, and, if they were young women, rape them.
    When he was arrested in a stolen car, he had a red light in the vehicle; the car's original owner said he never owned such a light.
    In acting as his own attorney, he put off the jury with his blunt manner.
    He claimed to know who the 'real' Red Light Bandit was, but refused to name him.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He claimed his original confession to the Red Light Bandit crimes had been beaten out of him by the police.
    There were discrepancies between his appearance and victim descriptions of the Red Light Bandit.
    While he was on death row, California repealed its 'Little Lindbergh' law that made kidnapping a capital offense, but the state refused to reduce his sentence.
    Opponents of his execution included authors Ray Bradbury, Robert Frost, Norman Mailer and Aldous Huxley, musician Pablo Casals, former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and evangelist Billy Graham.
    A District Court judge agreed to a last-minute stay of execution, but his secretary misdialed the number for the San Quentin warden. When she got through on the second try, the execution had already started.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 6 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 92.31% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 15 Votes: 26.67% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 25 Votes: 48.00% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 17 Votes: 52.94% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 15 Votes: 53.33% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 25 Votes: 52.00% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 23 Votes: 56.52% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 10 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 12 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 51 Votes: 66.67% Annoying