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Spencer was told that "he that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall finde mercie", but it was never made clear to him whether this mercy related to the proceedings of the court or those of God. Having witnessed a repentant child molester being whipped for his crime
Spencer believed that his best
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When the trial began the magistrates knew the necessity of having two witnesses to the crime. They used
Spencer's retracted confessions as one witness and the stillborn piglet as the other, ruling that this was sufficient to determine his guilt. On April 8, 1642, the sow was put to death by the
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authorities deemed the birth a work of God. They believed that this was irrefutable evidence that an act of bestiality had taken place. He was charged with "prophane, atheistical carriage, in unfaithfulness and stubbornness to his master, a course of notorious lying, filthiness, scoffing at the
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by
Superior Court Judge John C. Blue, concluding that Spencer's confession was coerced and thus inadmissible, while also stating that Spencer's alleged crime of fathering a piglet was "biologically impossible". Spencer's case was described by Blue as the "first verifiable
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option was to confess. On the realisation that this might lead to a death sentence he retracted his statement. He repeated this confession and retraction again, trying to find the best solution to his situation.
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for his convictions, with Blue ruling that
Spencer's confession was forced and that the alleged crime of fathering a piglet was "biologically impossible". Blue called Spencer's case the "first verifiable
207:, and continued to be a "habitual troublemaker". He was open about his lack of faith, never praying in the years of being in Connecticut and only reading the Bible when forced to by his master.
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Spencer's death was early in the history of
Connecticut and is reported to be only the second execution to take place in Connecticut and the first of a non-Native American.
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gave birth to a malformed, one-eyed piglet it was considered a manifestation of God's proof of
Spencer's sins. Spencer was arrested, and the
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On August 28, 2015, in a review of old New Haven criminal cases by
Superior Court judge John C. Blue, George Spencer was granted a posthumous
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After a review of the case in 2015, Spencer was given a posthumous
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George
Spencer is described as an ugly, balding servant with a
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Massachusetts Sex Ways: Puritan Ideas of Flesh and the Spirit
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1600 – April 8, 1642) was the second person in history to be
355:"Things Fearful to Name": Bestiality in Colonial America
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163:after being wrongfully convicted for an alleged
468:Executions is the U.S. 1608-2002: The ESPY File
425:Criminal Justice in Colonial America, 1606-1660
381:Puritan Family Life: The Diary of Samuel Sewall
312:"Judge Grants Posthumous Pig-Paternity Pardon"
195:. He is believed to have lived for a time in
431:. 2010. pp.38–39. Accessed November 1, 2011.
511:Overturned convictions in the United States
531:17th-century executions of American people
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274:Capital punishment in Connecticut
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501:Deaths by person in Connecticut
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232:sword and Spencer was hanged.
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155:. He was executed by
360:Princeton University
279:Crime in Connecticut
556:17th-century trials
546:Wrongful executions
211:Trial and execution
58:Cause of death
521:People from Boston
450:2018-12-22 at the
379:Graham, Judith S.
289:Wrongful execution
169:wrongful execution
506:False confessions
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262:Thomas Hogg
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69:Occupation
551:Zoophilia
260:In 1645,
193:glass eye
187:Biography
448:Archived
268:See also
201:flogging
122:pardoned
97:Pardoned
221:Puritan
215:When a
157:hanging
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63:hanging
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239:Pardon
197:Boston
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161:sodomy
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40:Died
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29:Born
217:sow
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