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Irving Lehman

Birthdate:
Birthplace: Manhattan, New York, New York County, New York, United States
Death: September 22, 1945 (69)
Port Chester, Westchester County, New York, United States
Place of Burial: Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, United States
Immediate Family:

Son of Mayer Low Lehman and Babette Lehman
Husband of Sara Lehman
Brother of Sigmund Mayer Lehman; Harriet "Hattie" Goodhart; Lisette (Settie) Fatman; Clara Limburg; Arthur Lehman and 2 others

Managed by: Douglas Arthur Kellner
Last Updated:

About Irving Lehman

Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals (1939-1944).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Lehman

Irving Lehman (January 28, 1876 – September 22, 1945) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. He was Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1940 until his death in 1945.[1]

Biography[edit] He was born on January 28, 1876 in New York City to Mayer Lehman (d. 1897) and Babette Newgass. Herbert H. Lehman was his brother. He graduated with an LL.B. from Columbia University Law School in 1897. On June 26, 1901, he married Sissie Straus, the daughter of Nathan Straus.[1]

He was a justice of the New York Supreme Court from 1909 to 1923, elected in 1908 on the Democratic ticket, and re-elected in 1922 on the Democratic and Republican tickets.[2]

In 1923, he was elected on the Democratic and Republican tickets to a 14-year term on the New York Court of Appeals, and re-elected in 1937. In 1939, he was elected Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals on the Democratic, Republican and American Labor tickets, and remained on the bench until his death in office.[1]

In 1942 the New York Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions of the notorious Louis Buchalter and his two associates Emanuel Weiss and Louis Capone under a sharply divided decision of the judges who filed four opinions. The death sentences were upheld by a vote of 4-3. (People v. Buchalter, 289 N.Y. 181) However, Judge Lehman who was also affirming the conviction of the three expressed some doubts in the verdict and stated that the errors and defects in the case were in fact numerous.[3] In 1943 the United States Supreme Court granted Buchalter's petition to review the case and in a full opinion affirmed the conviction, 7-0, with two justices abstaining. (319 U.S. 427 (1943)) Finally, Judge Lehman signed a show cause order in 1944 because the counsel for the trio had appeared before Governor Thomas E. Dewey in a clemency plea and Lehman eventually delayed the execution of the condemned men.[4] Even so the clemency plea was denied by Governor Dewey. On March 4, 1944 Emanuel Weiss thanked Chief Judge Lehman in his final words before being electrocuted in Sing Sing.

Lehman died of a heart ailment on September 22, 1945 at his home on Ridge Street in Port Chester, New York.[1] He was buried at the Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn.

"New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24SJ-F3K : 21 June 2022), Irving Lehman and Lissie Straus, 1901.

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Irving Lehman's Timeline

1876
January 28, 1876
Manhattan, New York, New York County, New York, United States
1945
September 22, 1945
Age 69
Port Chester, Westchester County, New York, United States
1945
Age 68
Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, United States