Pardon for Irish man hanged in US

The governor of US state Rhode Island is set to pardon the last man executed there – an Irish immigrant who was hanged more than 150 years ago following what is believed to have been a tainted trial.

John Gordon was convicted of killing Amasa Sprague, the brother of a US senator. He was hanged in 1845.

Law professors and historians now say the evidence against Gordon was circumstantial and his trial was tainted by widespread bigotry against Irish Catholics.

Rhode Island’s General Assembly passed legislation urging governor Lincoln Chafee to pardon Gordon.

The governor is scheduled to sign a proclamation pardoning him today, at the Old State House, in Providence, where Gordon’s trial took place.

State politicians who sponsored the resolution in the Senate and House of Representatives are expected to attend the public ceremony.