Nine black youths — described as, “young, ignorant, and illiterate” — were accused of raping two white women. Alabama officials sprinted through the legal proceedings: a total of three trials took one day and all nine were sentenced to death. Alabama law required the appointment of counsel in capital cases, but the attorneys did not consult with their clients and had done little more than appear to represent them at the trial. This case was decided together with Patterson v. Alabama and Weems v. Alabama.
In November 1932, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Powell v. Alabama that the Scottsboro defendants had been denied the right to counsel, which violated their right to due process under the 14th Amendment. The Supreme Court overturned the Alabama verdicts, setting an important legal precedent for enforcing the right of Black Americans to adequate counsel, and remanded the cases to the lower courts. The second round of trials began in the circuit court in Decatur, Alabama, 50 miles west of Scottsboro, under Judge James Horton. One of the boys’ accusers, Ruby Bates, recanted her initial testimony and agreed to testify for the defense.
But even with her revised testimony and evidence from the initial medical examination of the women that refuted the rape charge, another all-White jury convicted the first defendant, Patterson, and recommended the death penalty. Having reviewed the evidence and met privately with one of the medical examiners, Judge Horton suspended the death sentence and granted Patterson a new trial. (The judge would be rewarded for this brave action by losing his bid for reelection the following year.)
Prosecutors got the cases in front of a more sympathetic judge, and both Patterson and Norris were retried, convicted and sentenced to death in late 1933. With prominent defense attorney Samuel Leibowitz arguing the case for the ILD, the Alabama Supreme Court unanimously denied the defense’s motion for new trials, and the case headed for a second hearing in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Powell v Alabama significantly impacted the United States judicial system. This case made it clear that the Due Process Clause must be applied. The state governments must appoint an adequate defense attorney to all criminal cases with capital crimes even if the defendants could not afford it.