Scapegoat
The Resume
Nine black youths arrested in Scottsboro, Alabama, for the alleged rape of two white women (March 25, 1931)
Charlie Weems (age 20 in 1931), Clarence Norris (19), Haywood Patterson (19), Andy Wright (19), Olin Montgomery (17), Willie Robertson (17), Eugene Williams (13) and Roy Wright (12)
Convicted with all but Roy Wright sentenced to death (April 9, 1931)
Sentenced overturned on grounds of inadequate counsel
Retried and re-convicted (April 9, 1933)
Verdict set aside by the judge on grounds of perjury by prosecution witnesses
Patterson and Norris retried and again found guilty (November 30-December 6, 1933)
Verdicts overturned by the Supreme Court on the grounds that blacks had been systematically excluded from juries (1935)
Patterson, Norris, Weems and Andy Wright once again found guilty of rape; charges against the remaining five were dropped (1936-37)
Four convicted defendants served 6 to 13 years before being paroled
Why they might be annoying
They spent much of their first trial blaming each other for the alleged crime.
Their cause was adopted by the Communist Party to condemn 'capitalist justice.'
The Communist Party's hiring of defense attorney Sidney Leibowitz for the defendants backfired when the prosecutor told the jury, 'Show them that Alabama justice cannot be bought with Jew money from New York.'
Powell pled guilty to stabbing a deputy sheriff during a jail transfer and was sentenced to 20 years (1937).
Patterson was convicted of manslaughter after killing a man in a bar fight (1950).
Roy Wright murdered his wife and committed suicide (1959).
Why they might not be annoying
They were repeatedly convicted despite medical testimony at each trial that the 'victims' had not been raped.
While awaiting their first trial, they were kept in cells on death row, where they could hear people being electrocuted in the chair.
'Victim' Ruby Bates admitted to making up the rape allegation to avoid being arrested for vagrancy.
Norris, the last surviving Scottsboro Boy, was officially pardoned by Governor George Wallace (1976).
Norris said he was not bitter, adding, 'They said I was nobody, a dog, but I stood up and told the truth.'
Credit: C. Fishel
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Year In Review:
For 2009, as of last week, Out of 16 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2008, Out of 33 Votes: 51.52% Annoying
In 2007, Out of 68 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
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