How one man’s 1972 beheading for a murder he did not commit led France to end the death penalty
On a biting cold morning on November 28, 1972, a Frenchman was guillotined for a murder he did not commit, in a case that so traumatized his lawyer he would spend the rest of his life campaigning to end the death penalty. Roger Bontems, 36, was beheaded for being an accessory to the brutal murder …