Hannah Ocuish (sometimes "Occuish"; March 1774 – December 20, 1786) was a 12-year old Pequot Native American girl with an intellectual disability who was

hanged Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging in ...

on December 20, 1786, in New London,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

for the murder of Eunice Bolles, the 6-year old daughter of a wealthy farmer. She is believed to be the youngest person executed in the United States. In recent years, Ocuish's guilt,

culpability In criminal law, culpability, or being culpable, is a measure of the degree to which an agent, such as a person, can be held morally or legally responsible for action and inaction. It has been noted that the word, culpability, "ordinarily has ...

, and the fairness of her trial have come into question.

Early life

Henry Channing, a minister, published a sermon entitled ''God Admonishing His People of their Duty ... a Sermon ... Occasioned by the Execution of Hannah Ocuish, a Mixed Girl, Aged 12 Years and 9 Months, for the Murder of Eunice Bolles, Aged 6 Years and 6 Months''.Channing (1786)
/ref> It describes the negative and racially prejudiced light in which her early life was presented to the court, referring to her Native American mother as an "abandoned creature", and characterizing Ocuish as a fearsome violent criminal who at the age of 6 nearly killed another victim during a

robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

of a gold necklace and clothing: In modern US law, character evidence cannot be admitted to prove guilt. According to FRE 404, "Evidence of a person’s character or character trait is not admissible to prove that on a particular occasion the person acted in accordance with the character or trait." Although a prosecutor may present the evidence for a different purpose, the trial judge must not consider it when determining guilt.

Murder trial

Murder

The victim, six-year-old Eunice Bolles, the daughter of a wealthy farmer, was found dead on July 21, 1786. Ocuish was questioned and said four boys were near the scene of the crime. When the boys could not be found, the investigators further questioned her and she confessed. Karen Halttunen, a history professor at the

University of California at Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

, summarized the crime:

Arrest

One day after the murder, Ocuish was accused of killing Bolles and confessed. She was arrested for and charged with ( indicted by a

grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...

for) the murder and was held in pre-trial prison. The murder was reported in the July 27, 1786, issue of the Norwich Packet. The only

inculpatory evidence Inculpatory evidence is evidence that shows, or tends to show, a person's involvement in an act, or evidence that can establish guilt. In criminal law, the prosecution has a duty to provide all evidence to the defense, whether it favors the pr ...

against her was her confession to the investigators. The confession was never corroborated by anyone besides the investigators. The Fifth Amendment was not available at the time of the events. Her confession reportedly included baiting Bolles with calico,

beating Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ...

her nearly to death with a rock,

strangling Strangling is compression of the neck that may lead to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain. Fatal strangling typically occurs in cases of violence, accidents, and is one of two main ways that hanging ...

her to death, and placing rocks to stage an accident. The confession specified that the motive was that Bolles had earlier accused her of the theft of

strawberries The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...

Trial

During Ocuish's

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or d ...

, she pleaded " not guilty" at the direction of defense counsel and seemed unfazed and calm as the rest of those present, including the presiding judge, were brought to tears multiple times. The court found her guilty.

Sentencing

Although Ocuish's youth was considered, it could not be a mitigating factor, so the judge decided: "The sparing of you on account of your age would, as the law says, be of dangerous consequence to the public, by holding up an idea, that children might commit such atrocious crimes with impunity." He sentenced Ocuish to death by hanging. Under the state of law at that time, age and disability were not mitigating factors: a reporter wrote, "the age of a criminal was considered inconsequential; swift and relentless punishment was viewed as the only practicable method of keeping the lawless element in check." Additionally, under the Murder Act 1752, a conviction of murder required a mandatory death sentence by hanging within 48 hours. The

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

deemed capital punishment for juveniles in the United States unconstitutional in 2005 as

cruel and unusual punishment Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase in common law describing punishment that is considered unacceptable due to the suffering, pain, or humiliation it inflicts on the person subjected to the sanction. The precise definition varies by jurisd ...

. However, this affects only later cases and does not apply retroactively to past executions.

Execution

As she awaited execution, Hannah's anxiety grew worse, and she spent most of the day of her hanging in tears. At her execution, she thanked the

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

for his kindness as she stepped forward to be

. Spectators to the execution said that Ocuish "appeared greatly afraid, and seemed to want somebody to help her."

Reexamination

In March 2020, leaders of the New London chapter of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

assembled a group including historians, tribal members, attorneys, and the Connecticut chapter of the

Innocence Project Innocence Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal organization that is committed to exonerating individuals who have been wrongly convicted, through the use of DNA testing and working to reform the criminal justice system to prevent futur ...

to re-examine Ocuish's case to attempt to determine Ocuish's guilt and whether or not she received a fair trial. While the NAACP-assembled group has cautioned that they may not be able to reach a conclusion, if evidence favors Ocuish's innocence or her receiving an unfair trial, it will be decided whether or not to recommend an exoneration to the

Connecticut General Assembly The Connecticut General Assembly (CGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is a bicameral body composed of the 151-member House of Representatives and the 36-member Senate. It meets in the state capital, Hartford. Th ...

. It has been suggested by the group and by others that her race, age, disability, and gender may have played a role in her conviction and sentence. The group will also attempt to contact remaining descendants of Ocuish and Eunice Bolles.

Sources

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ocuish, Hannah People from Connecticut 1774 births 1786 deaths American children 18th-century Native Americans American people with disabilities Executed people from Connecticut American female murderers American murderers of children Executed children People executed by Connecticut by hanging American people executed for murder Executed American women People convicted of murder by Connecticut Juvenile offenders executed by the United States 18th-century executions of American people People with intellectual disability People of colonial Connecticut Pequot people 18th-century Native American women Native American people from Connecticut