I Told You I Wasn't Guilty Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dingo

When Lindy Chamberlain's daughter went missing while she and her husband were camping in central Australia, she was charged and convicted of murder. Her husband was incarcerated after being found guilty of being an accessory to the murder. Then, in 1986, a tourist went missing in the area where they had been camping. During the search for the tourist, the daughter's jacket was found in an area that had many dingo lairs.

The couple was released, the cases were reopened and both were exonerated by the courts in 1988.

Answer: An expert on paediatric death who performed the autopsy

Ms. Marquardt found her young son tangled in the sheets and struggling to breathe following a nap. Although being rushed to the hospital, he died when it was determined that he had suffered irreparable brain damage three days later and was removed from life support. An "expert" on suspicious childhood deaths completed an autopsy and found that the child's death was not accidental despite the mother's claim that the death was a result of an epileptic seizure.

She was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

She served fourteen years until the "expert's" qualifications came under suspicion and were reviewed by the Chief Coroner. Her conviction was overturned and all charges were dropped in 2007 when the expert was found to be incompetent.

Answer: 4

Thirteen people were proven innocent of the crime of child molestation in the 2005 re-trial after spending four years in jail for crimes they did not commit. Of those, one had died while imprisoned. This miscarriage of justice occurred when a main witness lied about the involvement of the other suspects. The witness was, in fact, one who was ultimately convicted of the abuse.

Answer: Rape

False allegations by two women were made against Wall led to her wrongful conviction. The two women had a history of mental health issues and of making false accusations. Wall was the first woman in Ireland to be convicted of rape, and the first person in Ireland to receive a life sentence for rape.

She served only four days of her life sentence before her sentence was overturned. In 2005, the Irish court officially recognized that she had been a victim of a miscarriage of justice.

Answer: serial killer

Evans was found guilty of murdering his wife and daughter in 1949 after a false confession. His neighbour, John Christie, was called to provide evidence in the case. After the hanging, Christie was found to be a serial killer, having murdered at least six other woman in the area where Evans' wife had been killed.

Despite being executed for the crime, Evans was granted a posthumous exoneration. This case led to the abolition of capital punishment in the United Kingdom in 1965.

Answer: Forced to drink poison

Socrates was found guilty of corrupting youth and impiety in 399 BC. He was forced to drink poison hemlock as a result. Historians believe that this was a wrongful conviction, and that the sentence was actually revenge for his association with the dictators of the time.

Answer: Amanda Knox

In 2007, Amanda Knox was living in Italy. Her roommate was murdered one night when she claimed that she had been with her boyfriend. The Italian court suggested that there were three defendants, Knox, her boyfriend and her roommate's boyfriend. It was also suggested that the murder was the result of a sex game gone wrong. Knox served three years of a twenty-six year sentence before the case was reviewed by the Italian Supreme Court.

At that point, Knox was acquitted of the crime and was released from prison because there was no evidence directly connecting her with the crime.

Answer: True

Joan of Arc is said to have engaged in heresy and cross-dressing in Rouen, France in 1431. She was found guilty and sentenced to death. She was burned at the stake in 1431 for her "crimes", but was posthumously cleared in 1456.

Answer: Behind the wheel of his car at the bottom of the Danube

Rudolf Rupp was said to have a history of excessive drinking. He disappeared on his way home from the pub one night. After rumours spread that Hermine and her children had killed and dismembered him, she was convicted of the crime. Heroine Rupp was released in 2009 when her husband's body was found behind the wheel of his Mercedes at the bottom of the Danube River.

There was no evidence of a crime, so it was presumed that he simply had a car accident due to excessive drinking.

Answer: Collected DNA from the actual criminal

Despite the fact that DNA testing taken from semen at the scene did not match Elkins, his appeals were denied. Elkins' wife never gave up on her husband. She worked on the case from the outside and thought that she figured out who had committed the crime.

As it turned out, the actual criminal was in the same prison as Elkins for another crime. She communicated that to him, so he gathered a cigarette butt for DNA testing. When it came back as a positive match, he was released from jail in 2005 and exonerated, after spending six-and-a-half years in prison for a crime that he did not commit.