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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Rape |
Sentence: |
75 yrs |
Years Imprisoned: |
16 |
Year Crime: |
1931 |
Year Convicted: |
1936 |
Year Cleared: |
2013 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Alabama |
County or Region of Crime: |
Morgan |
City of Crime: |
Decatur |
Result: |
Pardoned Posthumously |
Summary of Case: |
"Haywood Patterson was one of the nine young blacks convicted in 1931 in Scottsboro, Alabama of raping two white girls on March 25, 1931 on a train bound for Memphis, Tennessee. The eight defendants who were 14 or older, that included Patterson, were sentenced to death, while the youngest who was 13 was sentenced to life in prison. The nine became known as the Scottsboro Boys and their case became a cause célèbre in the United States among socially conscious persons. In November 1932 the convictions were overturned by the United States Supreme Court on the ground that they had received ineffective assistance of counsel from their lawyer who was drunk throughout their trial. The venue was changed from Scottsboro to Decatur in Morgan County, and during the men's second trial one of their accusers, Ruby Bates, testified that the rapes didn't occur and were invented by he co-accuser Victoria Price. The all white jury nevertheless convicted the men. The men's convictions were again overturned by the U. S. Supreme Court, in 1935, based on the exclusion of blacks from the jury. After the men's third trial four of the men were acquitted. Patterson's conviction and death sentence was overturned a third time. Haywood Patterson was tried a fourth time and after his conviction for rape he was sentenced to 75 years in prison. Wright escaped from prison on July 17, 1947. Patterson was arrested Michigan in 1950 after he published his story in the book, "The Scottsboro Boys," Michigan's Governor G. Mennen Williams refused extradition of Patterson. Patterson died on August 24, 1952 from cancer while imprisoned for manslaughter in the death of a man during a barroom brawl in December 1950. On November 21, 2013 the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously voted to posthumously pardon Charles Weems, Andy Wright, and Haywood Patterson, They were the last of the nine defendants who hadn't already been pardoned or had the charges dismissed against them. The nine Scottsboro Boys spent a total of more than 80 years in prison for the non-existent rapes of the two white girls." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On November 21, 2013 the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously voted to posthumously pardon Charles Weems, Andy Wright, and Haywood Patterson," |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
18 |
Age When Released: |
34 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 148." |
Information Location 1: |
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Information Source 2: |
"Petition for Posthumous Pardon of the Scottsboro Boys, State of Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles, October 17, 2013" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.pardons.state.al.us/PDFs/Scottsboro%20Boys%20Hearing.pdf |
Information Source 3: |
"The Scottsboro Boys, UMKC.edu" |
Information Location 3: |
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scottsboro/SB_bSBs.html |
Information Source 4: |
"Scottsboro Boys, Wikipedia.org" |
Information Location 4: |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottsboro_Boys |
Information Source 5: |
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Information Location 5: |
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Book About Case: |
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Book Information: |
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Book About Case (2): |
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Book Information (2): |
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Movie About Case: |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org