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Examples Of Tom Robinson Trial In To Kill A Mockingbird

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In Harper Lee’s novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird” an African American named Tom Robinson was found guilty of raping Mayella even though he is clearly innocent. The legal system and the people in Maycomb were unfair with Tom Robinson, however if Tom Robinson was a different race the case would be judged differently. Tom was not only accused of raping Mayella but also beating her. The first piece of evidence that shows that Tom is innocent is that Mayella was beaten by a left handed person.”Atticus,Tom’s lawyer, was trying to show...that Mr. Ewell could have beaten up Mayella… if her right eye was blacked and she was beaten mostly on the right side of the face, it would tend to show that a left-handed person did it”(ch 17). Tom Robinson’s hand was seriously injured in a cotton gin accident,therefore it was impossible for him to strike Mayella’s right side of her face. This shows that the justice in the city and people in the city favor whites. …show more content…

When the jury of all men decide to vote if Tom Robinson is guilty or not, they all vote guilty because he is black.”I shut my eyes. Judge Taylor was polling the jury: Guilty...Guilty...Guilty...Pg 211”. This quote shows that the jury did vote Tom Robinson a hundred percent guilty.This shows that the jury favors white over blacks. If Tom was white with the same arm condition and he was in court, the court would more than likely give Atticus’s evidence more thought and Tom could be free. However, since the court is prejudiced and racist they decide to believe the white person over the innocent black

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