Nevertheless, the judge carried a loaded pistol in his car throughout the time he presided over these cases.[59]. [96] She testified that she had fallen while getting out of the gondola car, passed out, and came to seated in a store at Paint Rock. His jury and that from the trial of five men were deliberating at the same time. July 12 - 16: Norris is sentenced to death during his third trial. In the question of procedural errors, the state Supreme Court found none. Finally, she testified she had been in New York City and had decided to return to Alabama to tell the truth, at the urging of Rev. At this point, the International Labor Defense (ILD), the legal wing of the American Communist Party, took on the boys case, seeing its potential to galvanize public opinion against racism. Letters streamed in from peopleCommunists and non-Communists, white and Blackprotesting the guilty verdicts. "[72] Paint Rock ticket agent W. H. Hill testified to seeing the women and the black youths in the same car, but on cross-examination admitted to not seeing the women at all until they got off the train. Wright and Williams, regardless of their guilt or innocence, were 12 and 13 at the time and, in view of the jail time they had already served, justice required that they also be released. 19. The Scottsboro Boys. Samuel Leibowitz was born in 1893, the son of Romanian Jewish immigrants who came to America to escape anti-Semitism. "[103] Bailey attacked the defense case. Weems, she The jury began deliberating at four in the afternoon. Another police official shoots Powell in the head. [74], Leibowitz began his defense by calling Chattanooga resident Dallas Ramsey, who testified that his home was next to the hobo jungle mentioned earlier. Soon after, two white women, Victoria Price, and Ruby Bates charge the young men with rape. The whites went to a sheriff in the nearby town Paint Rock, Alabama, and claimed that they were assaulted by the Black Americans on the train. race, is to 75 years in prison. required by 30 days. January 23: Patterson is retried. and The defense called the only witnesses they had had time to find the defendants. When the US Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in 1977, Price disregarded the advice of her lawyer and accepted a settlement from NBC. Dobbins insisted he had seen the girls wearing women's clothing, but other witnesses had testified they were in overalls. in Rape charges Norris. [37] The jury quickly convicted Patterson and recommended death by electric chair.[38]. The Scottsboro boys were declared guilty , death by electrocution . "[107] For his summation, solicitor Wade Wright reviewed the testimony and warned the jury, "that this crime could have happened to any woman, even though she was riding in a parlor car, instead of the boxcar."[103]. Thus far in the trial, Ruby Bates had been notably absent. A widely published photo showed the two women shortly after the arrests in 1931. [124], Alabama Governor Bibb Graves instructed every solicitor and judge in the state, "Whether we like the decisions or not We must put Negroes in jury boxes. Why were 9 men arrested on the night of March 31, 1931? The New York Times described Leibowitz as "pressing the judge almost as though he were a hostile witness. In total, the Scottsboro nine were found guilty in three separate trials. Horton replied: "Don't worry about that, I'll take care of it. However, Patterson's case is not included in the argument because of filing date technicalities. It was the basis for the court's finding in Norris v. Alabama (1935), that exclusion of African-American grand jurors had occurred, violating the due process clause of the Constitution. She often replied, "I can't remember" or "I won't say." Governor Robert J. Bentley said to the press that day: While we could not take back what happened to the Scottsboro Boys 80 years ago, we found a way to make it right moving forward. The prosecution agreed that 13-year-old Roy Wright[2] was too young for the death penalty, and did not seek it. Black Americans in Alabama had been disenfranchised since the late 19th century and were therefore not allowed on juries, which were limited to voters. 3 days How long did the first trial last? The four had spent over six years in prison on death row, as "adults" despite their ages. Solicitor H. G. Bailey reminded the jury that the law presumed Patterson innocent, even if what Gilley and Price had described was "as sordid as ever a human tongue has uttered." [80][citation needed], By the time Leibowitz closed, the prosecution had employed anti-semitic remarks to discredit him. Stand your ground, show you are a man, a red-blooded he-man. December: The defense team is reorganized. The defense team argued that their clients had not had adequate representation, had insufficient time for counsel to prepare their cases, had their juries intimidated by the crowd, and finally, that it was unconstitutional for blacks to have been excluded from the jury. April 9: 13-year-old Roy Wright is also tried. When, after several hours of reading names, Commissioner Moody finally claimed several names to be of African-Americans,[95] Leibowitz got handwriting samples from all present. "[55] Justice Anderson also pointed out the failure of the defense to make closing arguments as an example of under zealous defense representation. the Scottsboro boys. Callahan denied the motion. the due process clause of the 14th Amendment. Patterson is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 6 [51] Chamlee pointed to the uproar in Scottsboro that occurred when the verdicts were reported as further evidence that the change of venue should have been granted. ILD to defend "Famous Trials" first appeared on the Web in 1995, making this site older than about 99.97% of all websites. Anderson concluded, "No matter how revolting the accusation, how clear the proof, or how degraded or even brutal, the offender, the Constitution, the law, the very genius of Anglo-American liberty demand a fair and impartial trial."[56]. "Famous Trials" first appeared on the Web in 1995, making this site older than about 99.97% of all websites. Olen Montgomery attempted a vaudeville career after being released from prison, but these plans never materialized. After a demonstration in Harlem, the Communist Party USA took an interest in the Scottsboro case. Soon a lynch mob gathered at the jail in Scottsboro, demanding the youths be surrendered to them. order to change her testimony. Clarence Norris is pardoned by Alabama Governor George Charlie Weems was paroled in 1943 after having been held in prison for a total of 12 years in some of Alabama's worst institutions. v. The Scottsboro Defense Committee (SDC) is established with Allan Knight Chalmers as chairman. He instructed them, "Where the woman charged to have been raped is white, there is a strong presumption under the law that she will not and did not yield voluntarily to intercourse with the defendant, a Negro. It upheld seven of eight rulings from the lower court. The American Communist Party maintained control over the defense of the case, retaining the New York criminal defense attorney Samuel Leibowitz. Alabama Pardon Board declines to pardon Patterson and Author Harper Lee reportedly drew on the boys experience when she wrote her classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird, and over the years the case has inspired numerous other books, songs, feature films, documentaries and even a Broadway musical. Judge Horton sets aside Haywood Patterson's conviction and He is not here." Willie Roberson testified that he was suffering from syphilis, with sores that prevented him from walking, and that he was in a car at the back of the train. There's too many niggers in the world anyway. The pardons granted to the Scottsboro Boys today are long overdue. March 27: Patterson's second trial begins in Decatur, Ala before Judge James Horton. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. December 21: Bibb Graves, the governor of Alabama, meets with Chalmers to discuss clemency to the five convicted defendants. On the date first set for their executions, the Scottsboro January 24: Ozie Powell pulls a knife and slashes a police officer's throat while being transported to Birmingham Jail. Governor Graves interviews Scottsboro boys. [114], Dr. Bridges was a state witness, and Leibowitz cross-examined him at length, trying to get him to agree that a rape would have produced more injuries than he found. The vote against him was especially heavy in Morgan County. Knight countered that there had been no mob atmosphere at the trial, and pointed to the finding by the Alabama Supreme Court that the trial had been fair and representation "able." Ozzie Powell is shot in the head by Sheriff Jay Sandlin and Roy Norris took the news stoically. Leibowitz questioned her until Judge Callahan stopped court for the day at 6:30. Charlie She had had surgery in New York, and at one point Leibowitz requested that her deposition be taken as a dying declaration. [17] The judge persuaded Stephen Roddy, a Chattanooga, Tennessee, real estate lawyer, to assist him. Early in 1936, Patterson was convicted for a fourth time, but sentenced to 75 years in prison. But from then on the defense was helpless. Scottsboro Later, the NAACP also offered to handle the case, offering the services of famed criminal defense attorney Clarence Darrow. All Rights Reserved. Ozzie Powell pleads guilty He drifted around in the North, working odd jobs and struggling with a drinking problem. This sentence was a negotiation between the foreman and the rest of the jury. The judge had ordered the Alabama bar to assist the defendants, but the only attorney who volunteered was Milo Moody, a 69-year-old attorney who had not defended a case in decades. [1] A group of whites gathered rocks and attempted to force all of the black men from the train. Andy Wright, Eugene Williams, and Haywood Patterson testified that they had previously known each other, but had not seen the women until the train stopped in Paint Rock. The state dropped the rape charges as part of this plea bargain.[6]. The African-American men ranged in age from thirteen to nineteen. Did Ory Dobbins frame them? Horton also postpones the trials of the eight other defendants as racial tensions are high in town. He walked through the mob and the crowd parted to let him through; Wann was not touched by anyone. [116] She said that there were white teenagers riding in the gondola car with them, that some black teenagers came into the car, that a fight broke out, that most of the white teenagers got off the train, and that the blacks "disappeared" until the posse stopped the train at Paint Rock. But Judge Callahan would not let him repeat that testimony at the trial, stating that any such testimony was "immaterial. Grand jury indicts the nine Scottsboro boys for rape. Leibowitz recognized that he was viewed by Southerners as an outsider, and allowed the local attorney Charles Watts to be the lead attorney; he assisted from the sidelines. Patterson replied, "I told myself to say it. While the pretrial motion to quash the indictment was denied, Leibowitz had positioned the case for appeal. Multiple trials were held in which all-white juries found guilty Charlie Weems, Ozzie Powell, Clarence Norris, Olen Montgomery . Clarence Norris, the oldest defendant and the only one sentenced to death in the final trial, "jumped parole" in 1946 and went into hiding. July 24: The rape charges against Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Eugene Williams, and Roy Wright are dropped. The case was first returned to the lower court and the judge allowed a change of venue, moving the retrials to Decatur, Alabama. January: The NAACP withdraws from the case after the Scottsboro Boys decide to let the ILD handle their case. Judge Callahan started jury selection for the trial of defendant Norris on November 30, 1933, Thanksgiving afternoon. April 6 - 7: Clarence Norris and Charlie Weems, were placed on trial, convicted and given the death sentence. [62] (Note: Since most blacks could not vote after having been disenfranchised by the Alabama constitution, the local jury commissioners probably never thought about them as potential jurors, who were limited to voters. [39] Under cross-examination she gave more detail,[38] adding that someone held a knife to the white teenager, Gilley, during the rapes. Eugene Williams moved with family in St. Louis. Lewis, Femi. juries in During the long jury deliberations, Judge Callahan also assigned two Morgan County deputies to guard him. FBI arrests Patterson, but . Ory Dobbins repeated that he'd seen the women try to jump off the train, but Leibowitz showed photos of the positions of the parties that proved Dobbins could not have seen everything he claimed. By the mid-1950s, he seemed to have settled for good in Connecticut. death. [2], With help from the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the case was appealed. Harry Emerson Fosdick of that city. We did a lot of awful things over there in Scottsboro, didn't we? Each young man was tried, convicted and sentenced in a matter of days. Two white women also claimed they had been raped. ), Leibowitz called local black professionals as witnesses to show they were qualified for jury service. In Powell v. Alabama (1932), the Court ordered new trials.[3]. Bates died in 1976 in Washington state, where she lived with her carpenter husband, and her case was not heard. By this time, the case had been thoroughly analyzed and shown to be an injustice to the men. The U. S. Supreme Court announces that it will review the "[80], Her dramatic and unexpected entrance drew stares from the residents of the courtroom. Callahan sustained a prosecution objection, ruling "the question is not based on the evidence."[115]. This trial began within minutes of the previous case. To See Justice Done: Letters from the Scottsboro Boys Trials, Scottsboro Boys Trial Clippings, The University of Alabama in Huntsville Archives and Special Collections, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Scottsboro_Boys&oldid=1151036869, Overturned convictions in the United States, Recipients of American gubernatorial pardons, CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown, Articles with dead external links from May 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2016, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2014, Articles prone to spam from February 2015, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Following his conviction, Haywood Patterson spent 13 years in prison. "Famous Trials" first appeared on the Web in 1995, making this site older than about 99.97% of all websites. [81], "I'm interested", Leibowitz argued, "solely in seeing that that poor, moronic colored boy over there and his co-defendants in the other cases get a square shake of the dice, because I believe, before God, they are the victims of a dastardly frame-up. gathered around Jury Nullification: Definition and Examples, African-American History and Women Timeline (1930-1939), Shocking Moments in 20th Century Black History, Civil Rights Movement Timeline From 1951 to 1959, Profile of Husband Killer Kelly Gissendaner, An Overview of the 'Castle Doctrine' and 'Stand Your Ground' Laws, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), M.S.Ed, Secondary Education, St. John's University, M.F.A., Creative Writing, City College of New York. Chamlee moved for new trials for all defendants.
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