On this day, May 2, in 1960, Caryl Whittier Chessman went to the gas chamber in California’s San Quentin Prison. Chessman — also known as the “Red Light Bandit” — was once a cause celebre for the movement to ban capital punishment.
Chessman followed people in their cars in the Los Angeles area and flashed a red light that tricked them into thinking he was a police officer. He would then rob or rape them.
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