Ashley N. King
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Ashley N. King |
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The Scottsboro Boys The case of the Scottsboro Boys is one of the most tragic cases in American history. On March 25, 1931, in Alabama, nine black boys, two white boys and two white girls jumped onto a train to catch a free ride to Georgia in hopes of finding work. A fight broke out among the men, which caused the stationmaster to stop the train and wait for the cops to arrest those who have been fighting. All nine of the black men were arrested. In an attempt to evade prostitution charges, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates (the two white girls on the train), accused the nine black men of rape. The girls were taken to the jail, where they pointed out six of the arrested men as the ones who raped them. That night, a mob surrounded the jail in hopes that justice would be put in their hands; however, the jail was protected by the National Guard. Trials began only twelve days after the arrest. The boys were represented by Stephen Roddy and Milo Moody. The defense team made a number of errors in judgment: they agreed to try all nine boys together (however, the prosecution decided to try them in groups of two to three), they failed to cross-examine many witness, and failed to focus on inconsistencies in the girls’ testimony. Six of the Scottsboro boys had denied seeing, let alone raping, the two girls; unfortunately, confessions had been beaten and threatened out of the other three. After four trials, eight of the nine were sentenced to die. The trial of twelve year-old, Roy Wright, was declared a mistrial, due to his age. After the first convictions, the Communist Party sent the International Labor Defense (ILD) and Samuel Liebowitz to defend the eight remaining boys and appeal their convictions. In January of 1932, the Alabama Supreme Court would not overturn the convictions, so the cases were taken to the United States Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court decided that seven of the boys were to have new trials, due to unconstitutional actions concerning the Fourteenth Amendment. After two years, Haywood Paterson, one of the Scottsboro boys, started his second trial. There were just as many inconsistencies in the testimony of the Price and doctors as there was in the first trial. Bates even testified for the defense, saying there was no rape and that the accusations were made up to evade charges. Somehow, the jury found him guilty a second time and sentenced him to death. Judge Horton soon set aside the verdict and ordered yet another trial for Patterson. However, Judge Callahan would oversee the new trial, causing even more conflict and hardship for the Scottsboro boys. This went on for years to come. Patterson was convicted four times, the last sentence being seventy-five years. This was the first time a black man accused of raping a white woman got off the death penalty. Ozie Powell, another Scottsboro boy, got himself in more trouble when he slit the throat of a deputy sheriff who was transporting him. The officer quickly shot Powell in the head, and although he survived, friends said Powell was changed forever. By the end of July 1937, seven of the nine boys had been in jail for over six years, some without ever having a trial. Patterson had received seventy-five years. In the third trial of Clarence Norris, yet another death sentence was granted. Andy Wright received ninety-nine years; Charlie Weem was given seventy-five years; and Ozie Powell’s charges were dropped on the condition that he would plead guilty to the assault of an officer. The charges were dropped for four of the boys; Roy Wright and Eugene Williams were said to be too young to spend any more time in jail, and two (Willie Roberson and Olen Montgomery) boys were finally believed to be innocent. By 1950, the Scottsboro Boys had spent anywhere from six to twenty years in prison for a crime that never happened. Weems was paroled in 1943; Powell and Norris were both paroled in 1946; and Wright finally was paroled in 1950. Patterson escaped in 1948, but was arrested again in 1950 after he published a book recanting the facts of the trials. By 1989, all the Scottsboro Boys were dead; however, they left a lasting impression in American history. Work Cited Linder, Douglas. “The Trials of the Scottsboro Boys.” 18 July 2005 <http://wwww.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_acc....>. |