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Asa Keyes (August 9, 1877 – October 18, 1934) was
Keyes was born August 9, 1877, in
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 ...
of Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...
from June 1923 until 1928, when he was found guilty of accepting a bribe from the Julian Petroleum Company and was sentenced to five years' imprisonment. He was paroled in October 1931, then pardoned by Governor James Rolph
James "Sunny Jim" Rolph Jr. (August 23, 1869 – June 2, 1934) was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected to a single term as the 27th governor of California from January 6, 1931, until his death on June 2, 19 ...
in August 1933.
Biography
Keyes was born August 9, 1877, in Wilmington, California
Wilmington is a neighborhood in the South Bay and Harbor region of Los Angeles, California, covering .
Featuring a heavy concentration of industry and the third-largest oil field in the continental United States, this neighborhood has a high p ...
, and attended the University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
, after which he entered the district attorney's office. When Thomas L. Woolwine
Thomas Lee Woolwine (October 31, 1874 – July 8, 1925) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 27th Los Angeles County District Attorney, District Attorney of Los Angeles County between 1915 and 1923. He began his career as a Depu ...
resigned in June 1923, Keyes stepped into his position. A year later Keyes called upon 87 department employees to resign, and he reappointed only 27 of them to form his new team. During 1924 he caused the average length of a felony trial to be cut from 130 to 51 days.
In 1926, Keyes brought felony charges against celebrity evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson
Aimee Elizabeth Semple McPherson (née Kennedy; October 9, 1890 – September 27, 1944), also known as Sister Aimee or Sister, was a Canadian-born American Pentecostalism, Pentecostal Evangelism, evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920 ...
, her mother, and several others, alleging McPherson's reported kidnapping was a hoax. However, in January the following year, the charges were dropped due to a lack of evidence.
When he died on October 18, 1934, he left his wife, Lillian, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Mrs. Fred McGuire.
See also
*Ku Klux Klan in Inglewood, California
Ku Klux Klan activities in Inglewood, California, were highlighted by the 1922 arrest and trial of 36 men, most of them masked, for a night-time raid on a suspected bootlegger and his family. The raid led to the shooting death of one of the culpri ...
, for one of Keyes' notable cases
* Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson
On May 18, 1926, American Christianity, Christian Evangelism, evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared from Venice Beach, California, after going for a swim. She reappeared in Mexico five weeks later, stating she had escaped from kidnappe ...
, for another one of Keyes' notable cases
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keyes, Asa 1877 births 1934 deaths American people convicted of bribery District attorneys in California Lawyers from Los Angeles University of Southern California alumni People from Wilmington, Los Angeles' Prisoners and detainees of California Recipients of gubernatorial pardons in California