Scottsboro Boys Essay Example

spared when his sentencing ended in a mistrial.The date of their executions was set: July 10, 1931. Then on April 9, Judge Hawkins and Alabama governor Ben Miller received a telegram from the International Labor Defense (ILD).

It said, in part: "We demand stay of execution and opportunity to investigate and prepare for new trial or appeal. " As July 10 approached, eight sat on death row at Kilby Prison in Montgomery, Alabama, just on the other side of a door from the execution chamber. Just 72 hours before they were scheduled to die, they were told that the court had issued a stay of execution.In January 1932, the ILD presented its appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court, arguing that the Scottsboro Boys were denied a fair trial, had inadequate representation and that the jeering of the mob in Scottsboro prejudiced the jury. The Alabama court disagreed, and the ILD took their case before the U. S.

Supreme Court. The Supreme Court sided with the ILD. Armed with their victory, the ILD returned to Alabama for a new trial, this time in Decatur, 50 miles west of Scottsboro. New York attorney Samuel Leibowitz took on the case, and Judge James Horton presided over it.

Leibowitz began the trial by laying grounds for appeal, arguing that the jury selection was racist since black citizens were omitted from the jury rolls. He put leaders in the local black community on the stand to testify that they had never been called for jury duty. Horton conceded Leibowitz's point, but denied the New York lawyer's motion for a mistrial. Alabama Attorney General Thomas Knight, Jr. , who was prosecuting the

case himself, put Victoria Price on the stand to tell her version of the rape on the train.

Then Leibowitz got six of the defendants to testify, and this time their stories held together.He put Lester Carter, one of the two men Leibowitz claimed was with the women the night before the alleged rape, on the stand to tell of his own ride with the women on the train and of time spent in jail with Victoria Price and Jack Tiller, Price's boyfriend. As Carters testimony finished, Leibowitz produced a final, suprise witness: Ruby Bates. Bated backed up Carter's story and said that the black men never raped her or Price, never touched them, never even talked to them. She made the accusations, she said, because Price told her they would otherwise be thrown in jail for vagrancy.

The jury's verdict of the second trial: guilty, with another death sentence. There was widespread outrage over the verdict, and Ruby Bates traveled the country with some of the Scottsboro Boys', giving speeches vindicating the young men. Then, on June 22, 1933, Judge Horton made a stunning announcement: Evidence that made clear Bate's wasn't raped on the train. Horton set aside the jury verdict and ordered a new trial. It was not until years later that he revealed why: One of the doctors who examined the women pulled Horton aside to say that he couldn't find signs a rape had occured, but was afraid to testify to it on the stand.

New trials were set for November 1933 with Judge William Callahan presiding. Callahan wanted swift justice in these cases, with minimal interference. He banned cameras from the courtroom

and denied the defendants protection. Tension surrounding the trial was sharpened by a wave of lynchings in the South. The defense claimed the threat of violence would prevent a fair trial, but Callahan was unswayed.

Leibowitz again asked for a mistrial due to the exclusion of blacks from the jury. Callahan denied it, despite a handwriting expert who testified that someone had tampered with he jury rolls. Callahan also denied the defense a chance to present evidence of Price's background and her prior sexual activities. Ruby Bates was terrified of returning to Alabama to testify, and Callahan wouldn't allow a deposition by Bates into the record. When charging the jury, Callahan told jurors that Price's testimony needed no corroboration.

He forgot to give jurors the option of "not guilty" until Leibowitz objected. The verdict in the third trial, not surprisingly, was guilty. The defense prepared to appeal.Months later, Nashville police arrested two Communist Party-affiliated lawyers for attempting to bribe Price.

Leibowitz denounced the Communists and said he'd carry on the defense himself. To that end, he joined with allies of the Scottsboro Boys and formed the Scottsboro Defense Committee. On April 1, the Court ruled that, in fact, the jury rolls were tampered with and that blacks had been unfairly excluded from serving on juries in the Alabama counties where the trials occurred. The Scottsboro Boys' defenders prepared for one final trial.

After members of the defense committee suggested that Leibowitz had worn out whatever welcome he had in the area, the New York attorney agreed to direct the defense from the sidelines. Local attorney Clarence Watts took over. The trial began January 6, 1936, almost

five years after the nine were first arrested. Judge Callahan was once again presiding. Blacks were allowed into the jury pool, but kept segregated in the court and prevented from sitting on the jury.

Watts did no better than Leibowitz. Haywood Patterson was found guilty, but miraculously avoided the death penalty, receiving 75 years in prison instead.On the way back to prison, defendant Ozie Powell stabbed a deputy. Powell was shot in the head but lived, sustaining serious brain damage. Callahan postponed the rest of the trials, pending review.

A year and a half later, the trials resumed. Clarence Norris was convicted and sentenced to death, Andy Wright got 99 years and Charlie Weems received a 75-year sentence. Watts was exhausted, as was Leibowitz. Then, a surprise from the prosecution: they dropped Powell's rape charge, but he was convicted and given 20 years for his assault on the deputy.Immediately afterwards, the court dropped the rest of the charges against the remaining four men. Eugene Williams, Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson and Roy Wright were set free.

A huge crowd in New York greeted Leibowitz and the four free Scottsboro Boys. Alabama governor Bibb Graves commuted Norris' death sentence in 1938, but backed off on promises to release the convicted five. Between 1943 and 1950, four of the "Boys" were released on parole- leaving only Haywood Patterson in custody. In 1946, Norris violated his parole and left Alabama.In 1948, Patterson escaped and made his way to Michigan.

He was caught by the FBI in 1950, but Michigan wouldn't extradrite him back to Alabama. In 1976, Norris resurfaced in New York City, married with two children, living in

Brooklyn. The last living Scottsboro Boy wanted to clear his name. Prison officials in Alabama considered Norris a wanted man, but appeals from Alabama's attorney general prompted Alabama Governor George Wallace to grant Norris a pardon.

Norris returned to Alabama to receive his pardon. Norris died in 1989. The last Scottsboro Boy lived to be 76 years old.