Caryl Whittier Chessman (May 27, 1921 – May 2, 1960) was a convicted
robber,
kidnapper and
rapist who was sentenced to death for a series of crimes committed in January 1948 in the
Los Angeles area. The "first modern American executed for a non-lethal kidnapping", Chessman was convicted under a loosely interpreted
"Little Lindbergh law" – later repealed, but not retroactively – that defined kidnapping as a
capital offense under certain circumstances. His case attracted worldwide attention, and helped propel the movement to abolish capital punishment in California.