J. Miller Leavy (August 12, 1905, Tucson, Arizona - January 1, 1995, Eagle Rock, California) was an American lawyer who achieved fame for prosecuting several high-profile cases as a

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

in Los Angeles for 41 years. During his tenure he achieved many

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

convictions, which led to the executions of twelve men and one woman by

gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History Donatie ...

. A graduate of the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(1927) and the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (branded as Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparati ...

(1930), Leavy first drew national public attention for his successful prosecution of

Caryl Chessman Caryl Whittier Chessman (May 27, 1921 – May 2, 1960) was a convicted robber, kidnapper, serial rapist, and writer who was sentenced to death for a series of crimes committed in January 1948 in the Los Angeles area. Chessman was charged with 17 ...

, the "Red Light Bandit", in 1947. He also successfully prosecuted

Barbara Graham Barbara Elaine "Bonnie" Wood Graham (née Ford; June 26, 1923 – June 3, 1955) was an American criminal convicted of murder. She was executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin Prison on the same day as two convicted accomplices, Jack Santo and ...

in 1953 for bludgeoning an elderly woman to death; a trial which was depicted in the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

winning film ''

I Want to Live! ''I Want to Live!'' is a 1958 American independent biographical film noir drama film directed by Robert Wise, and starring Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland, Virginia Vincent, and Theodore Bikel. It follows the life of Barbara Graham, a prosti ...

'' (1958). In 1957 Leavy made legal history when he became the first prosecutor in the United States to obtain a murder conviction on purely circumstantial evidence with his case against Robert Leonard Ewing Scott. He was portrayed by actor Linden Chiles in the 1976 television film '' Helter Skelter'' about

Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934 – November 19, 2017) was an American criminal, cult leader, and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some cult members committed a Manson ...

References

1905 births 1995 deaths 20th-century American lawyers District attorneys in California University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of Michigan Law School alumni {{law-bio-stub