The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-05
Move for New
Trials for 2 of
ScOttSbOrO Boys
Continued from Pags y

lawyers were in danger Of losing their
lives in Decatur and that it was i'm
possible to obtain any Semblance Of q
fair trial in Morgan County, but also
that this was proved in the course OF
the trial and especially in the selec-
ton Of trial jurors.
Many on Jury Venire Admitted
Prejudice
In the Patterson case, it is pointed
out, IS prospective jurors out Of one
hundred we're honest enough to ad-
nit they had fixed opinions of his
guilt-set by the lynch-campaign OF
the Alabama white ruling-class press,
ard by the ynch-incitement Of ex-
Senator Heflin, Knight and others
and in the Norris trial, IS out Of a
hundred.
In spite Of this large proportion Of
admitted fixed opinions, the 1. L. D.
charged this would have been even
larger had the jurors not hidden their
opinions for the purpose of getting
on the jury in the first place, and
had not Callahan made an Illegal
definition Of fixed opinion and
brought pressure on the prospective
jurors not to admit such opinion.
Judge Unanswered To Help
Prejudieed Jurors
SO brazen was this maneuYer Of
Csllahan's, it was stated, that one
Juror, HUMPHREYS, who actually ad-
mitted fixed opinion in the Patterson
trial, denied it and actually served
on the Norris jury after pressure had
been brought upon him by the judge.
CaIahan's definition OF fixed opinion
put the burden of proof of innocence
upon the defendant, the motion
papers, supported by the record, show.
This is in direct violation OF the sup
posed principle Of law that the bur-
den Of proof is upon the prosecution,
and If the prosecution cannot prove
its case, the defendant must be &C.
quilted whether any defense or denial
is entered or not.
Verdict In Contradiction OF
Evidence
The general prejudical attitude Of
Callahan, who acted as prosecutor In
the lynch trial, Is cited as reverS-
ible point, and specific charges OF
prejudice are made against him be-
sides.
1t is shown that beyond this CAL
lahan deliberately excluded impor-
tant testimony, both in crosS-exan1-
nations Of witnesses, and in several
cases the entire testimony Of other
witnesses.
Callahan Barred Medical Testimony
Callahan refused to permit any
testimony as to the physical condi-
ton OF Victoria Price, the part OF the
medical testimony which proved the
Scottsboro boys could not have rcDed
her, and yet in his charge to the
referred to, the one fact he did allow
to be presented as proof OF rape.
In general, the LID. charges-and
backs up the charge with specific
proof from the record, Callahan
made every effort to exclude all proof
Of innocence Of the boys, acting in
a manner almost unexamp,ed for
high-handed crookedness and bra0en
prejudice, in the history of capital
list frame-ups in America.
In the Patterson case, the exclusion
Of the testimony of Ruby Bates and
of Dr.. E. E. ReisInan Of Chattanooga,
a gynecologist, were in themselves re-
verqibIe errors due to prejudice.
Judge, Prosecutor, Appealed to
Prejudice
Other grounds on which reversal IS
demanded in the Patterson case are
the raising of the color issue by Judge
Callahan In his charge to the jury,
to passion and prejudice made by
and the direct and admitted appeal
Attorney General Thomas E. Knight
in his summation.
At the same time that the motions
for new trials were filed, the Inter
national Labor Defense, through its
national office in New York, and the
nineteen district offices In every sec
ton Of the country, issued call for
a flood Of protests and protest actions
throughout the United States, to de-
mand reversal Of the lynch-verdicts
of Decatur. Protests should be ad-
dressed to Judge W. w. Callahan. at
Decatur, Alabama, demanding i'm
mediate, unconditional freedom, for
the nine innocent Scottsboro Negro
boys.