Vested Interest - December 2004 Issue

The President’s Thoughts

In 1906, Ed Johnson was arrested and accused of rape. He was innocent. However, he was poor, uneducated and Black. The victim, Miss Nevada Taylor, was white. It was an explosive mixture in the United States one generation after slavery.

To complicate matters, the place was Chattanooga, Tennessee. Soon a lynching mob attempted to storm the local jail to apply "swift justice" to Ed Johnson while he awaited trial. The mob was unsuccessful, but came away with a promise by the local judge that the trial would take place quickly. Additionally, there was pressure by the sheriff, Mr. Shipp. He was facing an election in two months.

Among the court appointed attorneys for Mr. Johnson, one had never handled a criminal case and the other did not have time to prepare the case in the two weeks between his appointment and the trial. Most unfairly, Black citizens had been systematically deprived of jury service in Tennessee at the time.

A few days later, to no one’s surprise, Ed Johnson was found guilty and sentenced to hang.

After the trial when all seemed lost, a local Black trial lawyer, Noah Walter Parden, emerged. He discussed the case with his partner, Styles Hutchins. They believed that justice demanded they defend an innocent man. Trial lawyers, they argued, had a duty to right wrongs. They agreed to handle Johnson’s appeal.

After initial defeat in the state court system, Parden filed a Habeas Corpus petition in Federal Court. He alleged a violation of due process under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and a violation of the 6th Amendment, because of the unfair trial, and the exclusion of Black citizens from the jury. He knew about the tyranny of lynching and was determined to argue the injustice of the impending hanging of Ed Johnson.

The district court judge in Knoxville ruled that the 6th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution did not apply to the states. However, he agreed to stay the execution for 10 days so that Parden could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

After hearing Parden argue on behalf of Ed Johnson, Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan issued a stay of Johnson’s execution. Unfortunately, justice was not well received in Chattanooga. The stay was ignored by local officials when they did nothing to stop the next mob from entering the jail and hanging Mr. Johnson. In addition, officials neither investigated nor punished any of the lawbreaking members of the mob.

As a result, the Supreme Court acted decisively. A number of the local officials were tried and convicted for contempt of court in the Supreme Court. They were sentenced to prison.

The above is a true story from Contempt of Court by Mark Curriden and Leroy Phillips, Jr., published by Faber and Faber in 1999. I recommend it to you.

It is a vivid reminder. Noah Parden and Styles Hutchins remind us that trial lawyers have a duty to right wrongs and to speak for people who cannot speak for themselves. It is what champions do.

Kevin Conway, President
Illinois Trial Lawyers Association