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George T. Davis was a criminal defence attorney specializing in high profile death penalty cases and a former assistant San Francisco District Attorney. Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1907, Davis supported himself as a professional drummer while earning his undergraduate and law degrees from University of Berkeley, California. Graduating in 1931, he worked in the San Francisco District Attorney’s office until leaving in 1934 to pursue criminal defense law and serve as an army espionage investigator from 1942 to 1945. Davis returned to the SF District Attorney’s office, leaving in 1947 to practice criminal defense law. In this interview, Davis discusses being Chief Counsel for Caryl Chessman, hypnosis and psychiatry in the courts, representing Thomas Mooney, and working on the Roosevelt and Truman presidential campaigns in Northern California.

Details

Title
George T. Davis: San Francisco Trial Lawyer: In Defense of Due Process
Creator
Davis, George T., interviewee
Hicke, Carole, interviewer
Published
Berkeley, CA, Regional Oral History Office, 1993
Link to Content
View on archive.org
Full Collection Name
Politics, Law, and Policy Oral Histories Individual Interviews
Subject (Topic)
Politics, Law, and Policy
Type
Text
Format
Oral histories.
Archive
The Bancroft Library Oral History Center
Note
Davis, George T. "George T. Davis: San Francisco Trial Lawyer: In Defense of Due Process." Interview by Carole Hicke in 1986 and 1987. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1993.
Interview date(s) 1986
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