Madge Meredith(1921-2017)
- Actress
On June 30, 1947, Madge Meredith was convicted and sentenced to prison
for 5 years to life for complicity in an assault of her former manager,
Nicholas D. Gianaclis, and his bodyguard, Verne V. Davis. Gianaclis and
Davis testified that they were beaten, kidnapped, and robbed by a group of
men as they neared Meredith's home in the Hollywood Hills. In March
1951, the California Assembly Interim Committee on Crime and
Corrections issued an official report concluding that Meredith had been
framed. The case was handled sloppily in court and inconsistent
allegations by the perpetrators were overlooked by police. In July
1951, Governor Earl Warren commuted her sentence to time served and issued
a statement of disgust at how her trial had been handled. Mr. Gianaclis
was found to have set-up Miss Meredith to gain ownership of her home.
Following her release from Tehachapi Prison, the court ordered that
Miss Meredith receive back ownership of her home from her accuser. Mr.
Gianaclis, an immigrant from Greece, was afterwards denied U.S.
citizenship by the U.S. Immigration Service.
