Supreme Court Case: Powell V. Alabama

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Overview: Alabama, March 25, 1931, nine African-American teens were arrested after a fight with several white teens on a freight train going through Alabama. After throwing the white teens off the train, they were accused of raping two white females. They were arrested and taken to the county seat of Scottsboro, charged, convicted and sentenced to the maximum penalty under Alabama law – death. All the defendants were tried and convicted in three separate groups, with each trial lasting one day. Eight were sentenced to death and the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed seven of the sentences. The issue of this case is whether or not their due process rights were violated by the denial of the right to counsel and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment (Powell v. Alabama, 1932 & Zalman,
On April 6th, six days after the incident, the trial began. When the judge asked the parties if they were ready for trial, the state answered in the affirmative and no one answered for the defendants. Mr. Roddy, a lawyer from Tennessee addressed the court by indicating he was not employed by the defendants but was there on behalf of interested parties of the defendants. There was a discussion between the judge, Mr. Roddy, and other members of the Alabama bar association in open court. At the end of the exchange, there was no clear representation for the defendants, the judge stated he would not appoint counsel for the defendants and when the trail started, no lawyer was named or designated as on record for the defendants. The Supreme Court judged this as from the time of their arraignment and beginning of the trial, they had no opportunity for consultation, through investigation of the claims or any preparation; ultimately, they had no aid or counsel of any real kind (Powell v. Alabama,

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