Salt Lake Telegram | 1939-01-04 | Page 4 | Sam Evidence Convicts, Frees Man from Prison

Same Evidence Convicts, Frees Man From Prison was Innocent H ultimately won an order for a imw trial and l-moat l-moat at the aama tlma former Oovarnor Frank Murphy commuted com-muted Ripen' aantanca. Ia tha maaatlma, balltatlca taata proved Indtsputsdly that tha bul-lat bul-lat which hlllad Trlpula oavat wu fired from Rlpan'a fun. Tha an-Ura an-Ura eaaa waa nolla proceed. JACKSON, Mich, Jan. 4 (UP) A man falsely convicted of murder mur-der In im walked from tha southern Michigan state prison today fraad by tha aama evidence evi-dence that convicted him. Tha science of ballistic opened tha prison dp ore to Alexander Ripen, Ri-pen, now 44, who was given a life term for tha slaying of hla neighbor, neigh-bor, Luca Trlpula. A detective's testimony that a bullet tends to flatten so thst It will not (Up back easily Into ths barrel from . which It was fired, gavs Ripen his freedom. On October 25. 1S10. Trlpula was found shot to death. Police found a ,32-csilber bullet la tha body and fitted It Into a ,13-callbst pistol pis-tol owned by Ripan. Tha jury accepted tha evidence and ha was aentenced to life imprissnmsnt. In lttt, Ripan escaped and fled to East Chicago. I"d., where ha led an exemplary life aa a cobbler cob-bler for six years. Thsn aa acquaintance ac-quaintance tipped off police and he was returned to hla cell. Friend took up the eaaa and forced a new Investigation. Riley L. Crane, the prosecutor who convicted con-victed Ripan, became convinced that the former Saginaw farmer