Supreme Court Overturns Alabama Death Sentence Significant Constitutional Right Extended

    PRESS RELEASE 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
TO COLUMBUS CIRCLE *+ NEWYORK19,N.Y. © JUdson 6-8397 
DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS JACK GREENBERG 
President 

CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY 
General Counsel Associate Counsel 

Ss 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

SUPREME COURT OVERTURNS ALABAMA DEATH SENTENCE 

SIGNIFICANT CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT EXTENDED 

NEW YORK, Nov. 14 -- The U. S. Supreme Court this week unanimously 

set aside the conviction of Clarence Charles Hamilton, who had been 

sentenced to death in the electric chair by an Alabama court in 

April, 1957. 

In reversing Hamilton's conviction, the Court extended the con- 

stitutional right of a criminal defendant to counsel at the time of 

arraignment, a ruling hailed as extremely significant by NAACP Legal 

Defense Fund Associate Counsel Constance Baker Motley, who argued 

Hamilton's defense. 

Legal Defense Fund attorneys took Hamilton's case because a 

court appointed white lawyer failed to show up at arraignment, thus 

depriving Hamilton of certain essential rights under Alabama procedure 

‘The right of an impoverished defendant to have state supplied 

counsel at all ‘effective’ stages of a criminal case has long been 

recognized," said Mrs. Motley. "But the Court said in Hamilton that 

when arraignment is a crucial step in a capital case, as in Alabama, 

the defendant has a right to counsel." 

Arraignment is the point at which a criminal defendant must 

plead to the indictment against him. 

Hamilton was arrested on October 13, 1956 in Ensley, Alabama, at 

3:00 a.m. in the bedroom of Mrs. Mary Giangrosso, a white women. 

Testimony at his trial was that he was indecently exposed when dis- 

covered. He had, however, no weapons or burglary tools with him, and 

no attempt at rape or assault was made. Mrs, Giangrosso did not 

appear at the trial. 

The trial itself, pointed out Mrs. Motley, almost developed into 

a fiasco. Hamilton, though illiterate, argued in open court with his 



aoe 

own attorney, and, at the invitation of the judge, made inept attempts 

to cross-examine witnesses, causing him to be reprimanded by the judge 

for his actions. 

The case was appealed to the U. S. Supreme Court from an August 

15, 1960 decision of the Supreme Court of Alabama which held that 

Hamilton "was not disadvantaged in any way by absence of counsel." 

The high Court's decision overruled the Alabama court, entitling 

Hamilton to a new trial. 

The case was heard before the Supreme Court on October 17. 

Mrs. Motley represented the petitioner. George D. Mentz, Assistant 

Attorney General of Alabama, argued for the state. 

eacOsae! 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

APPEALS COURT RULES CHATTANOOGA 
SCHOOL DESEGREGATION MUST BE SPEEDED UP 

NEW YORK, Nov. 14 -- The U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit 

upheld this week a decision of the U. S. District Court in Chattanooge 

Tenn. which called for the speeding-up of desegregation of 

Chattanooga's public schools. 

The Chattanooga Board of Education presented a desegregation 

plan on January 23, 1961 which District Judge Leslie R. Darr rejected 

as too slow. 

The Court of Appeals held that: "The order of the District 

Court, tentatively rejecting the first plan and requiring the filing 

of an alternate one, was within the discretion of the judge to make, 

and we do not find that there has been any abuse of discretion." 

The School Board plan allowed for desegregation of the first 

three grades of selected schools in the fall of 1962. The Board con- 

tended it needed more time to educate: the public about integration. 

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund attorneys representing 

the Negro plaintiffs in the Chattanooga suit are Jack Greenberg, 

Constance Baker Motley and James M. Nabrit, III, of New York City. 

SwEQees