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THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS "If you ever saw those creatures, those bigots whose mouths are slits in their faces, whose eyes popped out at you like frogs, whose chins dripped tobacco juice, bewhiskered and filthy, you would not ask how they could do it." -- Defense Attorney Samuel Leibowitz commenting on the jury verdict in Alabama v Patterson, 1933. 
Roy Wright, Eugene Williams, Andy Wright, Haywood Patterson, Olin Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Ozzie Powell, Charles Weems, and Clarence Norris. Nine African-Americans aged between 12 and 21, became known as the Scottsboro Boys during one of the greatest and most protracted miscarriages of justice ever to take place in Alabama, or indeed the United States.
On March 25, 1931 the nine young men were "hobo riding" a freight train from Chattanooga, Tennessee, which was headed to Memphis. A fight broke out between some white boys and some of the boys, shortly after the train passed into Alabama. The result was that the white boys were put off the train. Word was sent ahead to Paint Rock, where the train was stopped by an angry mob and the boys were arrested for assault, roped together and taken to Jackson County jail in Scottsboro. Later, two young white women from Huntsville, Ruby Bates and Victoria Price, who had also come off the same train, claimed that they had been raped. Bates said that she had been raped by three of the boys and Price, a local prostitute said that she had been raped by six. That night a mob gathered outside the jail looking for a good old-fashioned lynching, and the governor had to call in the National Guard to protect the jail. The boys were assigned a lawyer from Chattanooga named Stephen Roddy, who, as well as being a renowned drunk, had little knowledge of Alabama law, and a local lawyer named Milo Moody who agreed to help Roddy with the case. The duo spent just 25 minutes with the defendants before the start of the trial. A little over two weeks after the alleged crimes took place, eight of the nine were convicted by the all white jury and sentenced to death. Judge E. A. Hawkins declared a mistrial in the case of Roy Wright. Immediately after the verdicts were announced, the NAACP and a well known communist group, the International Labor Defense (ILD) became involved in the case, and indeed fought against each other as both wanted to be seen to be providing support for the defendants families. The ILD would joined with the parents of the boys and arrange for General Geo. W. Chamlee to represent them. Protests against the verdicts took place, not only across the United States, but across the globe in Belgium, Germany and elsewhere. Later, they would even be joined by one of the alleged victims, Ruby Bates. In June 1931, the executions were stayed pending appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court. By the time that the appeal took place in March of 1932, the NAACP had withdrawn from the case and a letter from Ruby Bates to her boyfriend would surface in which she denied that she had ever been raped. The Alabama Supreme Court voted 6-1 to uphold the convictions of seven of the defendants. Eugene Williams was granted a retrial because he was a juvenile at the time of his conviction. In May of 1932, the United States Supreme Court  agreed to hear the case and in November, the court ruled that the defendants had been denied the right to counsel, which violated their right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. The cases were remanded to the lower court. The following year, the ILD asked the famous New York criminal lawyer, Samuel Leibowitz who had not lost a case in 15 years to take over the defence of the boys, which he did, despite knowing that they would not be able to pay his fees.
On March 27, 1933 in Decatur, the second trial of Hayward Patterson began in front of Judge James Horton. On April 6, Ruby Bates would surprisingly appear as a witness for the defense, once again, she denied that the rape had taken place, stating that she and Victoria Price had been with their boyfriends on the night before the alleged attack, which explained the presence of semen. She told the jury that she and Price had made the story up because they feared being arrested for vagrancy. The doctor who had examined Bates and Price on the day of the alleged attack, admitted under questioning that Price showed few signs of being forcibly raped by six men. Despite this testimony, Patterson was still found guilty and sentenced to death by the electric chair. The judge then set aside sentence on a motion for a new trial and postponed the trials of the other seven defendants because feelings were running so high in the town and a "just and impartial" verdict could not be expected. On June 22, Patterson's conviction was set aside and he was granted a new trial. On October 20, the cases were moved to the court of Judge William Callahan. The trials of the youngest two, Roy Wright and Eugene Williams were transferred to juvenile court. Haywood Patterson and Clarence Norris were tried before Judge Callahan for rape, convicted and sentenced to death. In June 1934, Samuel Leibowitz appeared before the Alabama Supreme Court to argue for new trials on the basis that blacks had been systematically kept off the jury rolls. The motion was unanimously denied. On February 15, 1935, Leibowitz made his first appearance before the United States Supreme Court, and in the case of Norris vs. Alabama, it was found that because African Americans were deliberately kept off the jury rolls, Norris had been deprived of his right to equal protection under the law as guaranteed in the Fourteenth Amendment. The case was overturned and remanded back to the lower court. It was also recommended that the lower court review the case of Patterson as well. In December, the defence of the boys was reorganized due to the dislike for the ILD and Samuel Leibowitz in Alabama, and the Scottsboro Defence Committee (SDC) was formed, and local lawyer, Clarence Watts was named as co-council alongside Leibowitz.  In January 1936, Patterson was once again found guilty of rape, this time however, he was sentenced to 75 years in prison. The following day, while being escorted back to jail, Ozzie Powell slashed the throat of a deputy, Sheriff Jay Sandlin shot Powell in the head but both he and the deputy survived.
In June 1937, the conviction of Patterson was upheld by the Alabama Supreme Court. The following month, the third trial of Clarence Norris ended in a guilty verdict and the death penalty. Andy Wright was convicted and sentenced to 99 years. Charley Weems was convicted and sentenced to 75 years. Ozzie Powell pleaded guilty to attacking the deputy and was sentenced to 20 years, rape charges were dropped. Rape charges against the four remaining defendants were also dropped. Later in the year, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of Haywood Patterson. In June 1938, the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed the sentences given to Clarence Norris, Andy Wright and Charley Weems. The following month, Governor Graves commuted Norris's death sentence to life imprisonment. In August, a parole board recommended the denial of parole for Patterson and Powell, shortly afterwards the same decision was made in the cases of Norris, Weems and Andy Wright. In October, Governor Graves met with the defendants in his office to consider parole, he denied the pardon applications of all five, but then released Weems on parole. In January 1944, Andy Wright and Clarence Norris were released on parole, they left the state in violation of their parole conditions and both were jailed when they returned to the state, despite promises of leniency. Two years later, Ozzie Powell was released on parole and Clarence Norris was paroled again. In 1948, Haywood Patterson escaped from prison. In 1950, Andy Wright was paroled once again and Patterson was arrested by the FBI in Detroit, however the governor of Michigan refused to sign extradition papers to return him to Alabama, and the State of Alabama abandoned attempts to have him returned. Later in the year, Patterson was charged with murder after a barroom brawl, this led to him being convicted of manslaughter, he was sentenced to 6 to 15 years. In August of 1952, Haywood Patterson died of cancer and in 1959 Roy Wright also died. In October of 1976, Clarence Norris was pardoned by Governor George Wallace. In 1989, Clarence Norris, the last of the Scottsboro Boys, died. Links To Other Internet Resources on the Scottsboro Boys: University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School - Famous American Trials - The Scottsboro Boys Trials 1931 - 1937. Cornell Law Library - The "Scottsboro Boys" Trials, 1931 -1937. AFRO-Americ@ - The Scottsboro Boys. Court TV - The Scottsboro Boys. Jurist - The Trial of the "Scottsboro Boys". SIGN UP TO OUR EMAIL NEWSLETTER If you would like us to keep you updated with changes and improvements to thatsalabama.com, please enter your email address here: If you would like to support thatsalabama.com with a donation via paypal, please click on this button: |
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