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Louis Piquett

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20th-century American lawyer
Louis Piquett (Piquette)
Born(1884-09-24)September 24, 1884
Benton, Wisconsin, U.S.
DiedDecember 12, 1951(1951-12-12) (aged 67)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Resting placeHillside Cemetery (Platteville, Wisconsin)
OccupationLawyer
Criminal statusPardoned in 1951
Conviction(s)Acquitted
Convicted
Criminal chargeHarboring a fugitive (John Dillinger)
Harboring a fugitive (Homer Van Meter)
Penalty2 years and $10,000 fine

Louis Piquett (September 24, 1884 – December 12, 1951) was an American lawyer notable for defending John Dillinger. He was also a prosecutor for the city of Chicago. He is depicted by Peter Gerety in the 2009 movie Public Enemies.

Early career

Piquett was a bartender active in Chicago Democratic politics. He studied law in night school. By 1915, he was chief clerk to the city prosecutor of Chicago. In the early 1920s, he was appointed city prosecutor by Mayor William Hale Thompson. He was indicted in 1923 on corruption charges, which were subsequently dropped.

By the summer of 1923, Piquett was in private practice in Chicago. In August 1923, for instance, he represented James J. McGrath, who owned films showing a boxing match between Tommy Gibbons and Jack Dempsey. Piquett won a decision from the circuit court which stated that the films were neither immoral nor obscene, and enjoined the police from interfering with their exhibition.

In 1931, Piquett unsuccessfully defended Leo Vincent Brothers against charges of murdering Chicago Tribune reporter Jake Lingle.

Defense of Dillinger

In 1934, Piquett defended Dillinger in Crown Point, Indiana. He successfully argued that Dillinger should be allowed to appear in court free of shackles and without armed guards present. After Dillinger's dramatic pre-trial escape, an investigation by the state of Indiana revealed Piquett's complicity.

Criminal charges

In January 1935, Piquett was charged with harboring the fugitive Dillinger and of conspiring with a number of others, including two doctors, to hide Dillinger while he underwent plastic surgery. He was acquitted after less than four hours of deliberation. During this trial he was called "the brains of the Dillinger mob."

In May 1935, he was convicted of harboring Dillinger associate Homer Van Meter, fined $10,000, and served time in the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth. Piquett appealed his sentence all the way up to the Supreme Court of the United States, which denied certiorari in 1936. He was pardoned for this crime in 1951 by President Harry Truman.

Early life

Born in Benton, Wisconsin, he hopped trains to California sometime around 1900 where he enrolled in Stanford University and was a stand out on the track team. He then had a successful stint as a professional boxer, using the prize money to open a cigar shop on Market Street in San Francisco. Wiped out by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire he returned home to Wisconsin, married and moved to Chicago.

Death

He died in Chicago in 1951. He is buried in Hillside cemetery in Platteville, Wisconsin.

References

  1. ^ Girardin, George Russell; Helmer, William J. (2005). Dillinger: the untold story. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-253-21633-5.
  2. ^ "Piquett Gets Two Years for Harboring Killer". New York Times. June 28, 1935. p. 44.
  3. Chicago. Dept. of public welfare (1915). Social service directory 1915. H. G. Adair, printing. p. 176. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  4. ^ Burrough, Bryan (29 April 2009). Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34. Penguin. p. 211ff. ISBN 978-0-14-311586-1. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  5. "To Show Fight Films: Pictures of Dempsey–Gibbons Bout Passed by Chicago Judge". The New York Times. September 1, 1923. p. 7.
  6. "Testimony Closes in Brothers Trial". The New York Times. April 2, 1931. p. 13.
  7. Potter, Claire Bond (1998). War on Crime: Bandits, G-Men, and the Politics of Mass Culture. Rutgers University Press. p. 145. ISBN 978-0-8135-2487-0. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  8. "Dillinger's Lawyer is Acquitted by Jury". The New York Times. January 15, 1935. p. 10.
  9. Cahan, Richard (18 December 2002). A Court That Shaped America: Chicago's Federal District Court from Abe Lincoln to Abbie Hoffman. Northwestern University Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-8101-1981-9. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  10. "Cutten Victory is Hinted: Various Other Decisions Handed Down by Supreme Court". The New York Times. April 28, 1936. p. 14.
  11. ^ "Louis Piquett". The New York Times. December 13, 1951. p. 33.
  12. Historical Society, Grant County (May 31, 2024). "ArticleonLawyerPiquette.pdf" (PDF). ArticleonLawyerPiquette.pdf.
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