Innocent vs Guilty Notes

Sako and Vanzetti were both immigrants that came to the US for a better life.  When they realized that the US was not what they thought it would be, they wanted change, and they joined a group of anarchists the help promote this change.  Anarchists were not against violence, and Sako and Vanzetti participated in bombings against high power officials.  In 1920, Sako and Vanzetti were arrested for murdering two men in South Braintree Massachusetts, and a smaller crime of robbing a payroll truck.  Vanzetti was the only one tried for the robbery of the payroll truck, but they were both tried for the larger crime of murdering two men in South Braintree, Massachusetts.  In the murder, two men approached a manager and guard at slater shoe factory, these men then open fired, killing the manager and guard.  They then escaped with the payroll money.  Vanzetti had already been tried for the payroll truck robbery, and was found guilty, so he was already perceived as a criminal.  The evidence against Vanzetti was that his behavior showed guilt, eyewitnesses placed him at the scene, and his weapon was the bank guard's.  The evidence against Sako was the same, eyewitnesses, behavior, and his weapon.  The problem with this was that none of their evidence had proof behind it, and some of it was even false.  There were 10 eyewitnesses that placed Sako at a different location, and the evidence about the guns was later found to be false (but this was not brought up during the trial).  Even with this questionable evidence, both Sako and Vanzetti were found guilty and sentenced to death.