Tabor City tribune. (Tabor City, N.C.) 1946-1991, 1952-04-30
Defense Snarls xxx. Trials

hu kluX klanSuen III 1Our COlum.
bus County flogging cases.
Judge Clawson L. Williams con-
tinued the cases until next Mon
day, when a regular one-week
term of court will begin here, so
that he could study defense mo-
ton that indictments agaist 13
defendants be quashed.
At the center of the legal snarl
is a 1949 law which established a
rotating grand jury system in Co.
lumbus. That law, admittedly
faulty, led defense counsel to con-
tend that the indictments against
the Is were brought by grand
jury which was illegally consti-
tuted.
When Judge Williams adjourned
court, the first of 80 persons sum-
moned as a special venire from
New Hanover County were enter
ing the courtroom. A venire Of
$50 was ordered, but only 80 per-
sons on the list could be found.
The rostponement of the trial
until next Monday makes it virtu-
ally certain - barring wholesale
pleas by the q - that all four
flogging cases will not be tried
during that week. On the follow
ing Monday - May IL - seven
of the q will be among the II
men going on trial in federal court
in Wilmington in fifth flogging
case.
Ironic Note.
An ironic note entered the trial
today, before the adjournment was
announced. Aaron Goldberg Of
Wilmington, member of a race
constantly attacked by the Khan,
was called in by defense attorneys
to help select jurors from the
special venire.
While defense attorneys asked
that indictments against only Is
Of the defendants be quashed,
Judge Williams ruling will apply
to all q since the same grand jury
brought indictments against the
entire group.
The judge convened court at
noon, recessed until 2:30 p. M, and
then promptly adjourned the ses-
sion. He said he did not want to
put the county to unnecessary ex-
pense by risking a second trial if
the defense motion proves valid.
Meantime, he added, he is going
to 60 over the legal tsngle prior
to next Monday.
Under the provisions OF the l949
law, the rotating grand jury was
supposed to 60 into effect in Co.
lumbus iE May of that year. De-
tense attorneys, supported by the
court records, claimed in their
motion yesterday that the new
grand jury system was not put in
to effect Until June, month late.
the grand jury which this year in
dicted the q white men was not
legal since it was not the proper
successor to the 1919 jury provid-
ed for by law.
It was generally agreed by
Judge Williams, Solicitor Clifton
l.. Moore, and the other attorneys
that the wording of the jury law
was confusing. Some lawyers ex-
pressed the view that the law is so
imperfect as to be invalid.
If the defense motion is allowed
next Monday by Judge Williams,
who will preside during the regu-
Fiar term, the process of forming a
legally constituted grand jury and
presenting the bills of indictment
will begin all over again.
Also, if the defense proves that
the grand jury which indicted the
q men in these cases was illegally
constituted, every indictment re-
turned by Columbus County grand
juries since 1949 could be thrown
out as invalid, in the unofficial
opinion of court observers.
The motion refers to the Is men
charged with kidnapping and flog-
cling Woodrow Johnson, Whiteville
mechanic. Other cases involve as
victims Esther Lee Floyd, Negro;
Dorsey Robinson, Negro, and
Greer P. Wright, a painter.
One clue to the possible length
of the trial, once it begins, is con-
tanned in the fact that attorneys
for the Is defendants In the john
son case will have the right to ex-
cuse 70 prospective jurors ON chal-
lenges, while the State may excuse
a total Of 50 at the discretion Of
the solicitor.
Two or more Of the ~ defend
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