In July of 1965, Gerald Scarpelli pleaded guilty to a charge of armed robbery in Wisconsin . He was sentenced to 15 years to prison but later reduced to probation to which he only served seven of those years on August 5, 1965 in Illinois. On August 6 he was apprehended by Illinois police for burglarizing a house with another person. At the time of the supreme court hearing, he asserts that his statement was made under duress and was false. His probation was then revoked by the Wisconsin Department on September 1 without a hearing because he violated his probation and associated with a known criminal, the other man he was found with in the Illinois burglary. On September 4 he was incarcerated to the Wisconsin state reformatory and began serving