[122], On April 1, 1935, the United States Supreme Court sent the cases back a second time for retrials in Alabama. [108], Judge Callahan charged the jury that Price and Bates could have been raped without force, just by withholding their consent. Two men escaped, were later charged with other crimes and convicted, and sent back to prison. She said Patterson had fired a shot and ordered all whites but Gilley off the train. 2. Ruby Bates failed to mention that either she or Price were raped until she was cross-examined. The Scottsboro Nines case, however, became a moment showing that despite their status as outsiders, black Americans could carry their calls for justice across the nation and around the globe. The Associated Press reported that the defendants were "calm" and "stoic" as Judge Hawkins handed down the death sentences one after another. [92] The prosecution countered with testimony that some of the quotes in the affidavits were untrue and that six of the people quoted were dead. The American Communist Party maintained control over the defense of the case, retaining the New York criminal defense attorney Samuel Leibowitz. Michigans governor refused to extradite him. The story of the nine youths found new life in a Broadway musical, The Scottsboro Boys, that opened in 2010 and offered the surprising combination of a huge American tragedy and an entertaining American musical. [43], Judge Hawkins set the executions for July 10, 1931, the earliest date Alabama law allowed. The court reversed the convictions for a second time on the basis that blacks had been excluded from the jury pool because of their race.[121]. A group of white teenage boys saw 18-year-old Haywood Patterson on the train and attempted to push him off, claiming that it was "a white man's train". The issue of the composition of the jury was addressed in a second landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that race could not be used to exclude anyone from candidacy for participation on a jury anywhere in the United States. Paradoxically, the Scottsboro Nine had nothing to do with Scottsboro. The prosecution agreed that 13-year-old Roy Wright[2] was too young for the death penalty, and did not seek it. 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. It was addressed more to the evidence and less to the regional prejudice of the jury.[118]. Their case was monumental. The first two times that he did so, Leibowitz asked the court to have him alter his behavior. "What has been done to her cannot be undone. . On cross-examination Knight confronted him with previous testimony from his Scottsboro trial that he had not touched the women, but that he had seen the other five defendants rape them. The Court concluded, "the motion to quash should have been granted. The sheriff gathered a posse and gave orders to search for and "capture every Negro on the train. were the scottsboro 9 killed. In the first set of trials in April 1931, an all-white, all-male jury quickly convicted the Scottsboro Boys and sentenced eight of them to death. [65] The jury was selected by the end of the day on Friday and sequestered in the Lyons Hotel. While the Scottsboro Nine wore the faces that represented a great tragedy, their survival represented an opportunity for people to meditate on how this injustice could be rectified, says Gardullo. According to an article in the Vernon Courier, "Jim Morrison, the noted Bibb County desperado, has at last been run to death. Norris was released in 1944, rearrested after violating the terms of his parole, and freed again in 1946. [84], Attorney General Knight delivered his rebuttal, roaring that if the jury found Haywood not guilty, they ought to "put a garland of roses around his neck, give him a supper, and send him to New York City." It was one of the most important cases in American history that had . After 14 hours of deliberation, the jury filed into the courtroom; they returned a guilty verdict and sentenced Norris to death. "[60], Leibowitz asserted his trust in the "God-fearing people of Decatur and Morgan County";[60] he made a pretrial motion to quash the indictment on the ground that blacks had been systematically excluded from the grand jury. Along with accusations made by Victoria Price . 16pf scoring and interpretation Scottsboro Fire said multiple people were killed, with seven missing as of 6 a.m. While waiting for their trials, eight of the nine defendants were held in Kilby Prison. During the summer of 1937 when four of the Scottsboro Nine were convicted again, another fourMontgomery, Roberson, Williams, and Leroy Wrightwere released after authorities dismissed rape. Judge Horton warned spectators to stop laughing at her testimony or he would eject them. It started a fight between the whites and the blacks. On July 26, 1937, Haywood Patterson was sent to Atmore State Prison Farm. Callahan limited each side to two hours of argument. [65], A large crowd gathered outside the courthouse for the start of the Patterson trial on Monday, April 2. We did a lot of awful things over there in Scottsboro, didn't we? The jury began deliberating at four in the afternoon. He remained in contact with Montgomery throughout the years. Nine young Black men and four whytes were taken into custody. They said the problem was with the way Judge Hawkins "immediately hurried to trial. [67], Price insisted that she had spent the evening before the alleged rape at the home of Mrs. Callie Brochie in Chattanooga. ", Ruby Bates was apparently too sick to travel. "[82] One author describes Wright's closing argument as "the now-famous Jew-baiting summary to the jury. [55], Anderson criticized how the defendants were represented. | Her book focused on a single black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman of questionable character. His jury and that from the trial of five men were deliberating at the same time. [128], Scottsboro: A Tragedy of the American South (1969) by Dan T. Carter was widely thought to be authoritative, but it wrongly asserted that Price and Bates were dead. [80], Bates admitted having intercourse with Lester Carter in the Huntsville railway yards two days before making accusations. He had never lost a murder trial and was a registered Democrat, with no connection to the Communist Party. On March 25, 1931, two dozen people were "hoboing" on a freight train traveling between Chattanooga and Memphis, Tennessee, the hoboes being an equal mix of blacks and whites. [98] She said they raped her and Bates, afterward saying they would take them north or throw them in the river. She said none of the defendants had touched her or even spoken to her. [103] Patterson explained contradictions in his testimony: "We was scared and I don't know what I said. Sheriff's deputies arrested the nine young men, loaded them onto a flatbed truck and took them to the Jackson County jail in Scottsboro. Twenty-one-year-old Victoria and the teenaged Ruby were mill workers. "[81], Leibowitz objected and moved for a new trial. "[85], The jury began deliberating Saturday afternoon and announced it had a verdict at ten the next morning, while many residents of Decatur were in church. [citation needed], Olen Montgomery testified that he had been alone on a tank car the entire trip, and had not known about the fight or alleged rapes. They say this is a frame-up! The prosecution rested without calling any of the white youths as witness. A fight broke out, and the black travelers ousted the white travelers, forcing them off the train. They were put on trial and convicted, despite a lack of evidence, and eight of them were sentenced to death. "[79] At one point, Knight demanded, "You were tried at Scottsboro?" [86] "There ain't going to be no more picture snappin' round here", he ordered. They kept Joseph Brodsky as the second chair for the trial. Morgan County Solicitor Wade Wright cross-examined Carter. Knight questioned them extensively about instances in which their testimony supposedly differed from their testimony at their trial in Scottsboro. April 7 - 8: Haywood Patterson meets the same sentence as Norris and Weems. On the night of 25 March 1931 the boys - the youngest 12, the oldest 19 - were hoboing on a freight train heading west to . [120], The case went to the United States Supreme Court for a second time as Norris v. Alabama. Several defendants had difficulty reclaiming their lives after their ordeal. This trial began within minutes of the previous case. Later, Wright served in the army and joined the merchant marine. He drifted around in the North, working odd jobs and struggling with a drinking problem. [86] Bailey had held out for eleven hours for life in prison, but in the end, agreed to the death sentence. The journey through the judicial system of nine defendants included more trials, retrials, convictions and reversals than any other case in U.S. history, and it generated two groundbreaking U.S. Supreme Court cases. One man admitted that the handwriting appeared to be his. He admitted under questioning that Price told him that she had had sex with her husband and that Bates had earlier had intercourse as well, before the alleged rape events.[41]. Everything started when the nine boys set off on a southern railroads train heading towards Memphis from Chattanooga, looking for honest work. Enraged, they conjured a story of how the black men were at fault for the incident. The harrowing incident unfolded at about 9:30 on Monday mor. By this time, the case had been thoroughly analyzed and shown to be an injustice to the men. His family planned on him going to Seminary school, but whether this happened is not certain. As to representation, the Court found "that the defendants were represented by counsel who thoroughly cross examined the state's witnesses, and presented such evidence as was available. [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. Scottsboro Boys Relation to to Kill a Mockingbird. It was as if the exclusion was so ordinary as to be unconscious. He noted that Roddy "declined to appear as appointed counsel and did so only as amicus curiae." [39] Under cross-examination she gave more detail,[38] adding that someone held a knife to the white teenager, Gilley, during the rapes. However, roughly a year after their arrests, the Alabama Supreme Court upheld convictions of all but Williams, who was granted a new trial because he was a minor and should not have been tried as an adult. Judge Callahan repeatedly interrupted Leibowitz's cross-examination of Price, calling defense questions "arguing with the witness", "immaterial, "useless", "a waste of time" and even "illegal. 1861-1895. The judge was replaced and the case tried under a judge who ruled frequently against the defense. He claimed also to have been on top of the boxcar, and that Clarence Norris had a knife. "[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. Nevertheless, a grand jury indicted Charlie Weems, 19, Ozie Powell, 16, Clarence Norris, 19, Andrew Wright, 19, Leroy Wright, 13, Olen Montgomery, 17, Willie Roberson, 17, Eugene Williams, 13, and Patterson within a week. [74], Leibowitz began his defense by calling Chattanooga resident Dallas Ramsey, who testified that his home was next to the hobo jungle mentioned earlier. During the retrials, one of the alleged victims admitted to fabricating the rape story and asserted that none of the Scottsboro Boys touched either of the white women. [110], As Time described it: "Twenty-six hours later came a resounding thump on the brown wooden jury room door. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial. "[55], He pointed out that the National Guard had shuttled the defendants back and forth each day from jail, and that, this fact alone was enough to have a coercive effect on the jury. "[80] Bates proceeded to testify and explained that no rape had occurred. [81] Wade Wright added to this, referring to Ruby's boyfriend Lester Carter as "Mr. Caterinsky" and called him "the prettiest Jew" he ever saw. Without the "vivid detail" she had used in the Scottsboro trials, Victoria Price told her account in 16 minutes. The trial of the youngest, 13-year-old Leroy. The other defendants waited in the Jefferson County jail in Birmingham for the outcome of the appeals. The Scottsboro Boys were nine black teenagers falsely accused of raping two white women aboard a train near Scottsboro, Alabama, in 1931. Police in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale said Sunday that Marshall Levine was found shot inside an office building shortly after midnight Saturday. During the summer of 1937 when four of the Scottsboro Nine were convicted again, another fourMontgomery, Roberson, Williams, and Leroy Wrightwere released after authorities dismissed rape charges against them. Over time, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and other civil rights organizations worked alongside the ILD, forming the Scottsboro Defense Committee to prepare for upcoming retrials. Mrs Dare also firmly believes her husband's death wasn't planned by the trio. The original cases were tried in Scottsboro, Alabama. Ruby Bates was not present. The men's cells were next to the execution chamber, and they heard the July 10, 1931 execution of Will Stokes,[44] a black man from St. Clair County convicted of murder. An NBC TV movie, Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys (1976), asserted that the defense had proven that Price and Bates were prostitutes; both sued NBC over their portrayals. "[118] He attempted to overcome local prejudice, saying "if you have a reasonable doubt, hold out. "[9] The posse arrested all black passengers on the train for assault.[10]. [104] Although the defense needed her testimony, by the time a deposition arrived, the case had gone to the jury and they did not hear it at all. [102], The prosecution called several white farmers who testified that they had seen the fight on the train and saw the girls "a-fixin' to get out", but they saw the defendants drag them back. He later instructed the jury in the next round of trials that no white woman would voluntarily have sex with a black man.[89]. More than 2,000 people were . "[87], The defense moved for a retrial and, believing the defendants innocent, Judge James Edwin Horton agreed to set aside the guilty verdict for Patterson. He also testified that defendant Willie Roberson was "diseased with syphilis and gonorrhea, a bad case of it." The judge and prosecutor wanted to speed the nine trials to avoid violence, so the first trial took a day and a half, and the rest took place one right after the other, in just one day. Historical Context Essay: The "Scottsboro Boys" Trials Although To Kill a Mockingbird is a work of fiction, the rape trial of Tom Robinson at the center of the plot is based on several real trials of Black men accused of violent crimes that took place during the years before Lee wrote her book. Finally, he defended the women, "Instead of painting their faces they were brave enough to go to Chattanooga and look for honest work. Judge Hawkins then instructed the jury, stating that any defendant aiding in the crime was as guilty as any of the defendants who had committed it. Harry Emerson Fosdick of that city. The fight started when a group of white men tried to push one of the black men off, claiming that the train was for whites only. "[83], In his closing, Leibowitz called Wright's argument an appeal to regional bigotry, claiming talk about Communists was just to "befuddle" the jury. The Scottsboro Boys were a group of nine African-American teenagers who were tried for raping two white women in 1931.