Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/James Coburn (criminal)

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was withdrawn by nominator as a reference for the article has been found, and the notability of the subject explained. John254 03:03, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] James Coburn (criminal)

James Coburn (criminal) (edit|talk|history|links|watch|logs)

This is a biography which does not assert the notability of its subject; however, the speedy deletion tag was removed by an administrator. Since this page is comprised of entirely unreferenced negative information, it also constitutes an attack page, and could be speedily deleted on that basis as well. John254 00:33, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

• Delete as a non-notable executed criminal. I've tried to Google him, but the problem is that the actor of the same name seems to have appeared in a film set in Alabama (or been interviewed in Alabama or something), which throws up a lot of false positives. There's a vague hint of verifiability, but the links which would clinch the deal are 404'd. I'd be a little bit leery of calling it an attack page myself, although I can see the logic behind doing so. BigHaz - Schreit mich an 00:48, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
  • In light of the new information, keep as a notable "last" case of an event occurring. I was trying to call up more recent James Coburns, which probably explains why nothing was coming up. BigHaz - Schreit mich an 02:57, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
• Delete no cites to show such a person existed. Can be recreated if in the future someone cares to include enough reliable and verifiable cites to show it is not a hoax or an attack on someone with the same name. Edison 01:21, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
• Keep. The execution of this person is referenced at Capital punishment in the United States#Crimes subject to Capital punishment, which describes him as the last person in the US to be executed (in 1964) for a crime other than murder or conpiracy. Although this statement is unreferenced, it has been on that page unchallenged for over a year (and the page has frequent edits by a number of users). This would seem to make James Coburn notable. I will add what information there is to the page. The article obviously needs to be improved considerably and references found urgently. WJBscribe 01:34, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
  • It may have remained in the article simply because it sounds plausible and people were unwilling to remove what would be, if it were true, pertinent and interesting information. But even finely-tuned google search, search of FindLaw and the Lexis legal database of caselaw turn up no evidence of such an individual. Andrew Levine 02:28, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
• Delete per what I wrote above, unless a really reliable source predating Wikipedia can be found, in which case keep. Andrew Levine 02:28, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
• Well, I have just found a citation, the Espi file which lists all executions in U.S. history: [1] (PDF file). There is a James Coburn who was executed for robbery in 1964 Alabama. Sure enough, he is the last person in the file whose crime is not listed as murder. I will add the source to the article and sustain my keep, because I think being the last American to be executed for a crime less than murder makes him exceptional. Andrew Levine 02:34, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.