Chronology of the case of Jerome Miller
Compiled by Rob Warden
Copyright © 2006, Center on Wrongful Convictions
Bluhm Legal Clinic, Northwestern University School of Law
May 11, 1967 — Joseph Gagnepain, fifty-five-year-old keeper of the Mississippi River toll booth at Chester, Illinois, is murdered and $11 in bills and $40 in change is taken.
May 13, 1967 — Jerome Miller is arrested after police find a box of change and a revolver in his car, which he parked near the toll both while working in St. Louis, Missouri.
June 6, 1967 — Randolph County grand jury indicts Miller for murder and robbery.
September 5, 1967 — Miller pleads guilty after his attorney, Robert H. Rice, states in open court, “I have advised Miller and believe that he has no chance of obtaining a not guilty verdict in this case. I have practiced criminal law for sixteen years. I have advised this Defendant that the only chance or issue that he is really facing before this jury is whether or not he will receive the maximum death penalty. I have informed him that in my opinion the best he can come out of this trial is with a guilty verdict and no recommendation of the death penalty. I have advised him that it is my belief and the experience of the courts of Illinois and in conversation with the State's Attorney that this option is available to us now without the necessity of a jury trial. That is, it is my opinion to Jerome Miller that he would not get the death penalty if he entered a plea of guilty.” Judge Carl H. Becker accepts the guilty plea.
September 25, 1967 — Judge Becker sentences Miller to 199 years for murder fifty to seventy-five years for robbery.
May 26, 1970 — Fifth District Illinois Appellate Court, finding that Miller did not fully comprehend the consequences of his guilty plea, reverses the conviction and remands the case for retrial.
November 16, 1970 — Jury in Washington County, where the case was retried on a change of venue, acquits Miller.
September 7, 1978 — Illinois Court of Claims denies Miller compensation for the 1,283 days of incarceration.
