The Case Of Counsel With Rape Of Two White Women By The State Of Alabama

This trial did not just impact the life of the boys it impacted the life of others, after this trial they looked at how they did all these cases. As the time went on there became more and more fair trails, less biased jury and judges. But it does still exist, racism in court many years later. But the trial from Scottsboro, Alabama with Olen Montgomery, Clarence Norris, Haywood Patterson, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Charles Weems, Eugene Williams, Andy Wright, and Roy Wright all falsely accused of raping Ruby Bates and Victoria Price was a prodigious part of the way they treated trails against African

Jimmy Maddox was convicted of rape in a Georgia state court and sentenced to life imprisonment. Having unsuccessfully pursued his direct appeal and the state post-conviction remedy, Maddox filed a federal habeas corpus petition alleging prosecutorial suppression of exculpatory evidence in violation of the

April 6, 1931, the trials for the Scottsboro boys begin(Uschan 16). The boys were represented by Milo C. Moody and Stephen Roddy who were only given twelve days to prepare for the trials. Stephen was and unpaid, unprepared real estate attorney, and Milo was a forgetful seventy year old local attorney who hadn’t tried a case in a long time (“San Marcos” line 13). The trails were completely unorganized and false information was stated throughout the whole thing. The cross examination of Victoria Price lasted minutes and the defense offered very little information to the judge. Six out of the nine boys ended up denying the rape while 3 admitted to it. Even though the three men didn’t rape the women, because of beatings and threats, they admitted to the gang rape. By the time the trail had ended 8 out of the 9 boys were convicted and sentenced to death. Since one of the Scottsboro boys was only thirteen, he was considered too young to be tried as an adult (“UMKC” par. 6-7).

According to American history, prejudice is shown through the courtroom’s jury when making decisions to send the alleged African Americans to jail. On March 24, 1931, nine African American lives were jeopardized with the false accusations of rape that further scrutinizes the nation’s controversial look upon justice. Referring to Abigail Thernson and Henry Fetter when talking about The Scottsboro Trials it states, “Represented by unprepared out of date counsel who had no more than a half an hour consult

The boys of the Scottsboro trials were never treated fairly from the beginning. The whole journey was filled with misconception. The journey began on the freight train, there was nine African Americans on a train car and with them, was a group of Caucasian men. It all started with one of the white males stepping on the hand of one of the blacks. Not too long after, the white males threatened the nine boys to leave the train car (Doc). After the nine black males refused their threat, a fight broke out between all of them. All of the members of the white group were thrown off the train, all, but one. The one that was left on the train went and reported the fight to the train conductor.

The Scottsboro Boys case took place at the Scottsboro, Alabama town on March 25, 1931. This case had involved a group of black adolescents who, after such situation was best known as the Scottsboro boys. To be specific, these boys who were involved in this case were Clarence Norris, Olen Montgomery, Andy Wright, Roy Wright, Eugene Williams, Charlie Weems, Willie Robertson, Haywood Patterson, and Ozzie Powell. These guys were unfairly judged to have raped two white girls. While these teenagers were falsely accused of a crime that had never met, the case had become one of the most controversial, and complex instance in the United States history.

During the early nineteen hundreds many people especially in the south were often convicted of crimes for no other reason than their skin color and contrary to many ideas about our court system, we have not always been the most honest and unbiased people. One prime example of this is the case of the Scottsboro Boys and how they were accused of rape and had to go to court numerous times, almost everytime ending in the death sentence. The evidence in the case clearly points towards the innocence of the Scottsboro boys, evidence such as unclear stories from the girls, lack of bruises and marks indicating assault as well as a previous history of prostitution from both of the girls. This evidence helps to prove that Charles Weems and the Scottsboro boys were innocent and wrongly accused and convicted.

Duane Buck, a death row inmate, has served more than twenty one years for murdering his ex-girlfriend Debra Gardner and Kenneth Butler. He accused Kenneth for sleeping with Debra and also shot his stepsister in the chest, who survived. After shooting Kenneth, Gardner ran to the street and was chased until she was gunned down while her children watched. Even though the crime should be punished, bucks attorneys argue Mr. Buck was denied a fair trial. Walter Quijano, a psychologist, gave his testimony during the trial stating that Buck was more likely to be a future danger because of his racial color. What surprises everyone is that Buck’s defense lawyer was the one who called Quijano and evoke the testimony. Even though the racial testimony had no place in the trial it still didn’t justify whether they should throw out the death sentence. No racial testimony appeared to be in his early appeals due to his counsel’s impotence for introducing it. Still it was very believable because this was not the first case Quijano made a similar testimony that had violated an inmate’s constitutional rights. Bucks lawyers tried to use this information to fight for Buck but they were not successful because the courts ruled Buck had waited too long to raise the issue. The argument here is if Buck is

Petitioner Powell was one of seven African-American youths who were convicted of raping two white women. While traveling on a freight train the defendants got into a fight with a group of white youths, which resulted in the defendants throwing the white young men from the train. Two white girls who were aboard the same freight car alleged that six of the seven African-American boys had raped them. At trial, the defendants did not receive the opportunity to consult with their attorneys until right before the proceedings were initiated. Throughout a sequence of trials, all of the defendants were convicted and sentenced to death. The defendants contended that the state had denied them Due Process and the right to counsel through their negligence

the prisoners were lucky enough to escape the being lynched when they were moved into Scottsboro. In this trial, nine young, black boys were charged with the rape of two white girls while on a train. This case was a major source of controversy in the 1930’s. “Despite testimony by doctors who had examined the women that no rape had occurred, the all- white jury convicted the nine, and all but the youngest, who was 12 years old were sentenced to death” (“Scottsboro”). The boys’ lawyer, Samuel Leibowitz, did not even get assigned to the case until the first day of the trial. “If he could show a jury that these nine boys were innocent, as the record indicated, the jury would surely free them. To Leibowitz, that was simple!” (Chalmers 35). However, it was not that simple. Many white citizens would not change their minds about

When 15-year-old Gerald Gault was on probation, he and a friend made ‘obscene comments’ in a telephone call made to a female neighbor. At the hearing, Gerald had no counsel. On top of that, the victim, the neighbor, was not present, and there was no evidence presented. He was found guilty and sent to a training school. Personally, I think that the trial was really in violation of due process rights. From what I have learned in the past, all suspects have access to an attorney, and they have a right to be able to face the victim in their trial. Having Gerald adjudicated delinquent and sending to a training school was unfair to him. He had an unfair trial, and therefore should have had the option to be retried with the victim and an attorney present.

In the year 1931, all nine of the Scottsboro boys Haywood Patterson, Charles Weems, Clarence Norris, Andy Wright, Ozzie Powell, Olen Montgomery, Eugene Williams, Willie Roberson, and Roy Wright are arrested and tried on charges of assault from fighting white boys on a train. Along with accusations made by Victoria Price and Ruby Bates that the boys raped them. Their trial begins April 6, 1931. All of the boys except for Roy Wright are tired and convicted, with the result of the death sentence, Roy Wright’s trial ends in a mistrial. Later the NAACP and International Labor Defense, fight to represent the boys. Even though there was no proof that the boys committed these crimes they

An important Supreme Court Cases for this was Powell vs Alabama. The case was about a group of young black men, "the Scottsboro Boys", who were on a freight train with seven white men and two women. The women accused the black men of rape, although one of the women later retracted her claim. All the defendants, except for

In the movie “Marshall” we take a look at one of Thurgood Marshall early cases. In “Marshall”, Thurgood starts off at a train station getting ready to board and some bad cats walk up to him and started screaming obscene things at Thurgood. We see Thurgood going into the NAACP office and someone is waiting for him to tell him he will be taking a rape case in New York. Thurgood tells his wife that he will have to leave again for another court case. So he goes to New York and enlists the help of local lawyer Samuel Friedman. Marshall needed a co-counselor based in Connecticut to help him argue the case, someone more familiar with the laws and politics particular to the state. Sam’s response wasn’t to welcoming. He felt like this was a case that could possible ruin his career. He wanted nothing to do with it. After a few movie minutes we go to see the man accused of rape. It’s an African American male named Joseph Spell. Spell is accused of raping his former boss Eleanor Strubing. Mrs.Strubing had come home from dinner with friends. She was fresh from the shower and wearing only a robe when Spell knocked on her bedroom door and asked if he could borrow some money. She claims Spell raped her made her get dressed took her downstairs, bound her hands and feet, and raped her again. After forcing her to write a ransom note, he put her in the car, cut off the bottom of her dress and gagged her with the remnant, and drove until a policeman stopped the car. The officer did not

The Scottsboro Boys were nine African American teenagers who were convicted in Alabama of raping two white women on a train in 1931.The Scottsboro Trials demonstrated the racial discrimination in the southern criminal justice system. In a one-day trial, eight of the teenagers were sentenced to die in the electric chair. The youngest was sentenced to life in an Alabama prison. They were on trial for their life for a crime that didn’t happen. Charles Weems, Andy Wright, Haywood , Clarence Norris, Willie Roberson, Eugene Williams, Roy Wright, Ozie Powell and Olen Montgomery were arrested and