Arthur Lucas
Arthur Lucas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | December 18, 1907[1] |
| Died | December 11, 1962 (aged 54) |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Criminal status | Executed |
| Motive | Witness elimination |
| Convictions | Capital murder Armed robbery Mail fraud Pandering |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Details | |
| Victims | Therland Crater, 44 Carolyn Newman, 20 |
| Date | 17 November 1961 |
| Country | Canada |
| Location | Toronto, Ontario |
Arthur Lucas (December 18, 1907 – December 11, 1962), originally from the U.S. state of Georgia, was one of the last two people to be executed in Canada, on December 11, 1962.[2] Lucas had been convicted of the murder of 44-year-old Therland Crater, a drug dealer and police informant from Detroit. He is also assumed to have killed 20-year-old Carolyn Ann Newman, Crater's common-law wife, but was never tried in her death. Crater was shot four times, while Newman was nearly decapitated. The murders took place at a hotel in Toronto on 17 November 1961.[3]
A ring belonging to Lucas was found in a pool of Newman's blood. When Lucas was arrested, he was found to have recently cut his nails, and blood was found underneath one of them. He also had gunpowder imbedded in his hand. There were bloodstains found in the car used by Lucas to travel to Toronto, which matched that of Crater and Newman. The car in question was found to have been owned by the individual against whom Crater was supposed to testify: a drug dealer named Saunders.[3]
Before 1961, murder carried a mandatory death sentence in Canada. In July of that year, the Canadian government adopted a law establishing two degrees of murder: capital murder and non-capital murder. Capital murder carried a death sentence, while non-capital murder carried a life sentence with parole eligibility after 10 years. Lucas was charged with capital murder since the crime was premeditated.[4]
A 1963 investigation by Canadian journalist Betty Lee expressed doubt over Lucas's guilt. Lee conceded that Lucas, a career criminal with prior convictions for armed robbery, mail fraud, and pimping, was an unsavory figure. However, she said Lucas had no blood on his clothes and that the case against him had relied heavily on the testimony of a potentially unreliable witness, Morris Thomas, a drug addict and convicted drug dealer.[5] The defense also argued that the prior actions of Lucas, whom federal authorities in the United States had described as having "dull normal intelligence",[6] were unfitting of that of someone charged with premeditated murder. Above all, Lucas had registered at the hotel under his own name and with his correct address.[3]
Lucas, along with fellow prisoner Ronald Turpin (who had been convicted of an unrelated murder), was executed at the Toronto (Don) Jail by hanging,[7] the only form of civilian capital punishment ever used in post-Confederation Canada, although the military employed execution by firing squad. In 1976, capital punishment for murder was removed from Canada's Criminal Code, but could still be used under the National Defence Act until 1998.
Chaplain Cyril Everitt attended the double hanging and in 1986, shortly before his death, he revealed that Lucas's head was "torn right off" because the hangman had miscalculated the man's weight and that his head was hanging "by the sinews of his neck".[7]
In an interview with the Toronto Star shortly before the 50th anniversary of the hangings, Everitt's son, Bramwell Everitt, said Lucas had made a confession to his father on the night of his execution. Lucas maintained that he was framed for the murders of Crater and Newman, but also that "he'd done many other terrible things in his so-called career that it was just catching up with him."[7]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Hoshowsky, Robert J. (2007). The Last to Die: Ronald Turpin, Arthur Lucas, and the End of Capital Punishment in Canada. Toronto: Dundurn Press. p. 41. ISBN 9781550026726.
- ^ Capital punishment in Canada: Arthur Lucas and Ronald Turpin, last two hanged in Canada- Retrieved 2017-05-02
- ^ a b c "Lucas v. The Queen, 1962 CanLII 625 (SCC)". November 30, 1962.
- ^ David B. Chandler, Capital Punishment in Canada (Ottawa: McCelland and Stewart Limited, 1976), 13.
- ^ Poplak, Lorna (December 6, 2022). "'MURDER?': How a pioneering investigative journalist shone a light on justice denied". www.tvo.org. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
- ^ Hoshowsky, Robert J. (2007-04-30). The Last to Die: Ronald Turpin, Arthur Lucas, and the End of Capital Punishment in Canada. Dundurn. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-77070-246-2.
- ^ a b c Tim Alamenciak (10 December 2012). "The end of the rope: The story of Canada's last executions". Toronto Star. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
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- 1907 births
- 1962 deaths
- 20th-century executions of American people
- 20th-century African-American people
- American people convicted of robbery
- American people convicted of mail and wire fraud
- American people executed in Canada
- American people executed for murder
- Criminals from Detroit
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- People convicted of murder by Canada
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