Framed by Police
Ameer Ben Ali, an Algerian sailor, was sentenced to life in prison in 1891 for the mutilation murder of a prostitute in a New York City hotel. The discovery of the victim prompted speculation, soon discounted, that Jack the Ripper had arrived in New York. Ben Ali’s conviction rested on the contention of police that there had been a trail of blood leading from the victim’s hotel room to Ben Ali’s room across the hall. Ben Ali was exonerated and released eleven years later based on the identification of an alternative suspect and an affidavit from a prominent journalist stating that a trail of blood linking Ben Ali to the crime had been planted by the police. — Cara Settipani
Copyright — 2006, Center on Wrongful Convictions
Bluhm Legal Clinic, Northwestern University School of Law
