Powell v. Alabama

Seaver Williams On March 25, 1931, on a train going through Alabama, a fight between nine young African Americans and seven young white men took place. Powell and his African American friends ended up throwing all but one of the white men off the train. There were also two white women on the train who claimed they were sexually assaulted. They were escorted to jail when they arrived at Scottsboro. They were put on trial on March 31 for the rape of the two white women and were found guilty and sentenced to the death penalty. However, they were not appointed a lawyer until the very morning of the trials and had no time to confer with them.
The lack of time to confer with their lawyers was viewed by them as unconstitutional so they appealed the case to the state Supreme Court. The ruling of the Alabama Supreme Court ended in a six to one decision. They then appealed their case to the Supreme Court. The Alabama Supreme Court’s chief justice claimed that they had not received a fair trial which was when the United States Supreme Court decided to hear the case. The Supreme Court questioned weather or not the defendants had been denied due process of the law. Without due process, they would have been violating the 14th amendment. The decision ended in a seven to two ruling in favor of Powell. The court ruled that the defendants were not given reasonable time and opportunity to secure counsel in their defense. The Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to be given the death penalty without the right to counsel. The Supreme Courts ruling that they were denied due process of the law resulted in all charges being dropped and letting them go free. A dissenting opinion was given by Mr. Justice Butler. He claimed that since there were four separate trials for the nine defendants and different justices writing the court for each case, there trials were impartial and fair. He also stated that the defendants’ attorney had already been prepared and was in contact with the defendants at all times during the cases and, therefore, were given enough time of preparation and a fair trial should have been the ruling from the beginning. Powell v. Alabama had an effect on court cases to come in that it was the first case where defendants were denied due process. The 14th amendment was looked at more closely from then on. Everybody convicted of a crime has the right to an attorney and a counsil.