Powell v. Alabama Essays

Powell v. Alabama is a landmark case that addressed the right to counsel for defendants in criminal cases. The case came from the conviction of nine African American kids who were accused of sexually assaulting two white women on a train in Alabama in 1931. The nine kids were tried and convicted in a rushed trial that barley lasted a few hours, in which they were not provided with a legal counsel and were subject to intimidation and threats from the prosecution and the people outside the courthouse

In 1931, nine African American boys were accused of raping two white women. The boy’s ages ranged from 12-20 years old. The names of the black boys were Roy Wright 12, Eugene Williams 13, Charlie Weems 16, Ozie Powell 16, Willie Roberson 16, Olen Montgomery 17, Haywood Patterson 18, Andy Wright 19, and Clarence Norris 19. The trial is notoriously known as The Scottsboro Boys Trial. While the trial is considered a key trial in America’s criminal justice system, it showed the injustice in the Jim

had not raped the women on the train. The case was then appealed and retried for the Alabama Supreme Court. This trial resulted in seven of the eight boys being convicted again with one boy being let off because he was younger. This trial, Powell v. Alabama, shaped the way juries are selected since the Scottsboro Boys had originally been given a biased jury. The case was then sent back down to lower courts in Alabama to go on trial again. This time around one of the alleged rape victims admitted to

responsible for the act that he committed, he slammed Wendy down in the pavement and punched her, no one else is responsible but Weaver. He cannot use being on LSD as an excuse especially since he willingly took it. This can be proven in Zickefoose v. Indiana, 270 Ind. 618, 388 N.E.2d 507 (1979), it says the defendant is found guilty of attempted murder where he severely beat a woman using a deadly weapon and continued the attack even after she lost consciousness and fell down. Weaver continued to

Scottsboro Boys Case The Scottsboro Boys were nine African American teenagers, ages 13 to 20, accused in Alabama of raping two White American women on a train in 1931. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial. The cases included a lynch mob before the suspects had been indicted, all-white juries, rushed trials, and disruptive mobs. It is commonly cited as an example of a miscarriage of justice in the United States legal system. The womens

The first case that I researched was a case from Chester, South Carolina which was the Christopher Frank Pittman case. On November 28, 2001, when he was only 12 years old Christopher F. Pittman murder his grandparents, Joe and Joy Pittman while they were asleep in the bed as well as set their house on fire, stole the family truck and fled (muderpedia.org. n.d.). His reason for killing them was because the day before he killed them, his grandfather paddled him after a school bus fight the day before

The history of WAYNE BERTRAM WILLIAMS Summarized by Alante’Kyles Wayne Bertram Williams born May 27, 1958 is an American serial killer who was tried, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1982 for killing two adult men. After his conviction the Atlanta Police Department announced that Williams was responsible for at least 23 of the 29 Atlanta murders of 1979 1981, also called the "Atlanta Child Murders". Williams became a suspect in the Atlanta Child Murders in May 1981 when

In 1982, at the age of 18, Marvin Anderson’s dreams of becoming a professional fireman had been taken away. He was in the fireman academy at the time he was convicted of robbery, sodomy, abduction, and rape. The victim of the rape reported that the rapist said, he “had a white girl” (Innocence Project, n.d.). Marvin never had a criminal record, but because a police officer only knew of one black man, who dated a white girl, so, he singled out Marvin Anderson (Innocence Project, n.d.). The victim

Many people are charged for acts they believe were innocent , but others can plead guilty for all the wrong reasons. Johnny Cade was walking through the park on the East side of town with 14 year old, Ponyboy Curtis. As they were walking, Robert Sheldon of the Social gang, had threatened the two young men due to too much alcohol. The two boys were looking for a way to get out of this situation, but the Socials had already surrounded them along with threatening the two. Curtis was beginning to drown

Nine boys Charlie Weems, Ozie Powell, Clarence Norris, Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Haywood Patterson, Eugene Williams, and Andrew and Roy Wright were accused of raping two white women on a freight train, on March 24, 1931. The boys were caught for illegally riding on a freight train, and were originally charged with that until one of the police found the two white women VIctoria Price, and Ruby Bates and pressured them into saying that the boys had raped them on the freight tra in. All the

Summarized account On June 7th 1998, James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old African American male, was walking home alone after a night of drinking with friends and family in Jasper, Texas. As Byrd was walking home, he was stopped and offered a ride from three drunk white men. Byrd accepted the ride and climbed into the back of the pickup truck. The men in the truck were Shawn Berry, Lawrence Brewer, and John King, and they had no intention of taking Byrd home that night. Instead, they drove Bryd to a desolate

falsely accused of raping two women riding the train. Why would nine black get the blame for the so-called “rape?” The Scottsboro Case was a landmark case in the state of Alabama that raised tensions about the issue of capital punishment. “On March 25, 1931, nine black youths aged 13 to 21, hopped on a freight train in Alabama in a quest for work.” (“The Scottsboro Boys Case”). Riding on the freight train in search of work during the Great Depression was not unusual, many were forced off farms.

Patterson defended himself and his friends when the white boy continued the harassment (Aretha 11-12). Twenty-one-year-old Victoria Price and seventeen-year-old Ruby Bates were also traveling on the train at the time it was stopped in Paint Rock, Alabama. The two white millworkers were also in search of work. Both girls came from poverty-stricken families (Sorensen 10). Bates spoke with the sheriff after she exited the train and accused nine black men of raping her and her friend, Victoria Price.

Second, did the the women get caught lying during the trial? And third, how did the women’s story compared to the novel “To kill a mockingbird”? Price and Bates said that 9 black teenagers raped them. The alleged incident occurred in Scottsboro, Alabama on a freight train on March 25, 1931. Price and Bates accused 9 black teenagers during a fight on a freight train. The 2 women reported the incident to the Scottsboro Deputies. The women were caught lying during trial. Ruby Bates confessed that the

arrested in Paint Rock, Alabama. These boys were the ages of 13 to 20. The four boys that boarded in Tennessee were Haywood Patterson, Eugene Williams, and the two brothers, Andy and Roy Wright. All four of these boys jumped onto the freight train in Chattanooga, Tennessee

an injustice to blacks that were convicted of crimes. In the time periods of the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and The Scottsboro Boys trial, discrimination in Alabama was atrocious, and racial injustice was seen throughout this time period. The Scottsboro trial shows how discrimination played a large role in Alabama during the 1930’s. This influenced Harper Lee’s to write about the Tom Robinson case. In many ways, the Scottsboro trials were more similar to the Tom Robinson case, but at

Born in 1941 in Chicago, Illinois, Emmett Louis Till was raised by his single mother who was an extraordinary woman. She defied social constraints and discrimination she faced as an African American. At the age of six, Till was diagnosed with polio which left him with a permanent stutter, but that never stopped his positive attitude. Nicknamed Bobo, was well liked and those who knew him described him as responsible and funny. He also liked to joke and play around with his friends. Till was also a

September 15, 1963 - A bomb blast at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, kills four African-American girls during church services. At least 14 others are injured in the explosion, including Sarah Collins, the 12-year-old sister of Addie Mae Collins, who loses an eye. Three former Ku Klux Klan members are eventually convicted of murder for the bombing. Victims: Addie Mae Collins, 14 Denise McNair, 11 Carole Robertson, 14 Cynthia Wesley, 14 Timeline: September 15, 1963 -

In 1931 nine african american from Alabama were accused of the rape of Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. The youngest boy was 12 and the oldest was 17. The boys were apprehended in Paint Rock, Alabama while hoboing on a train shortly after an altercation with a group of white boys traveling from Chattanooga to Memphis, Tennessee. These 9 boys were wrongly convicted of the rape of Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. The 9 boys convicted of the rape of Victoria Price and Ruby Bates were guilty. These boys

The Scottsboro Trials were a set of trials where nine black boys named Charlie Weems, Ozie Powell, Clarence Norris, Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Haywood Patterson, Eugene Williams, Andrew Wright and Leroy Wright were accused of on March 25th, of raping two white women Ruby Bates and Victoria Price. These women were pressured to accuse the nine men. The white men that pressured the women told the conductor to stop at the next town so they could get the police. The police arrested the Scottsboro