Gail L. Ireland (November 21, 1895 – February 11, 1988) was an American attorney and politician from

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, who served as the

Attorney General of Colorado The Attorney General of the State of Colorado is the chief legal officer for the U.S. State of Colorado and the head of the Colorado Department of Law, a principal department of the Colorado state government. It is an elected position with a fou ...

from 1941 to 1945. He later was appointed as Colorado Water Commissioner. Ireland was also proud of his ''

pro bono ( English: 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who a ...

'' work during his law career. During the late 1930s he served as defense attorney for

Joe Arridy Joseph Arridy (; April 29, 1915 – January 6, 1939) was an American man who was falsely convicted and wrongfully executed for the 1936 rape and murder of Dorothy Drain, a 15-year-old girl in Pueblo, Colorado. He was manipulated by the police to ...

, a mentally disabled man who had been convicted of the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl, based on his coerced

false confession A false confession is an admission of guilt for a crime which the individual did not commit. Although such confessions seem counterintuitive, they can be made voluntarily, perhaps to protect a third party, or induced through coercive interrogatio ...

, and sentenced to death. Ireland served as his counsel after he was imprisoned, seeking to overturn his conviction and sentence through appeals in the courts. Ireland petitioned the

Supreme Court of Colorado The Colorado Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Colorado. Located in Denver, the court was established in 1876. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices who are appointed by the Governor of Colorado from a ...

, writing, "Believe me when I say that if he is gassed, it will take a long time for the state of Colorado to live down the disgrace." The Colorado Supreme Court ultimately denied the petition by a single vote. Although Ireland gained nine stays of his execution, Arridy was finally executed in 1939. Ireland married and had a family. In the early 21st century, his granddaughter, Terri Bradt, became interested in his career after receiving many of his papers from her mother. She worked with the Friends of Joe Arridy in pursuing a pardon for the young man her father had defended. In 2011 Arridy received a full and unconditional posthumous pardon by Governor

Bill Ritter August William Ritter Jr. (born September 6, 1956) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 41st Governor of Colorado from 2007 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the district attorney for Denver before his ele ...

. Bradt published a biography of her grandfather that year.Terri Bradt,'75; ''Gail Ireland: Colorado Citizen Lawyer''
''Bulletin'', December 2012, Colorado College

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Further reading