Willie Roberson

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Charge:	Rape
Sentence:	Death
Years Imprisoned:	6
Year Crime:	1931
Year Convicted:	1931
Year Cleared:	1937
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Alabama
County or Region of Crime:	Morgan
City of Crime:	Decatur
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Willie Robertson 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 Robertson 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, including Robertson, and the charges were dismissed and he was released from prison in July 1937. 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:	False accusation of rape by two white woman they had consensual sex with.
Innocence Proved By:	The charges were dismissed and he was released from prison in July 1937.
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	16
Age When Released:	22
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:
Information Source 2:	"The Scottsboro Boys, UMKC.edu"
Information Location 2:	http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scottsboro/SB_bSBs.html
Information Source 3:	"Scottsboro Boys, Wikipedia.org"
Information Location 3:	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottsboro_Boys
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Willie Roberson

Charge:

Rape

Sentence:

Death

Years Imprisoned:

6

Year Crime:

1931

Year Convicted:

1931

Year Cleared:

1937

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Alabama

County or Region of Crime:

Morgan

City of Crime:

Decatur

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

False accusation of rape by two white woman they had consensual sex with.

Innocence Proved By:

The charges were dismissed and he was released from prison in July 1937.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

16

Age When Released:

22

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:

Information Source 2:

"The Scottsboro Boys, UMKC.edu"

Information Location 2:

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scottsboro/SB_bSBs.html

Information Source 3:

"Scottsboro Boys, Wikipedia.org"

Information Location 3:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottsboro_Boys

Information Source 4:

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Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: