Rights Attorneys Seek End of GA. Insurrection Charge

Document text

The following text has been generated automatically during the document scanning process. It may contain errors, omissions, or incorrect formatting. Please refer to the PDF document if this text is not usable.

Download

By downloading, publishing, or reusing the Materials outside of the Website, you hereby confirm and attest that you have read and agree to the LDF Archival Collection Terms of Use linked below. We draw your attention to the following:

For those Materials owned by LDF, your use of the Material outside the Site is solely for one or more of the following (the “Permitted Purposes”):

Non-commercial research and private study;
Teaching, scholarship and instruction (including distance learning);
Non-commercial print and non-commercial online use;
Criticism, comment or news reporting; or
For people with visual disabilities (See Section 121 of the Copyright Act).
For those Materials not owned by LDF you understand that:
- It is your responsibility to determine whether the way you plan to use the materials falls within the copyright exception of Fair Use.
- For any use outside of Fair Use, it is your responsibility to seek and obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders.

LDF hereby grants you the right to use LDF owned Materials for the Permitted Purposes without seeking further permission from LDF.

If you publish or redistribute any Materials (including excerpts and quotes), you must include a credit line and/or proper citation to the source of the Material. However, you may not use the name of LDF in any manner which creates any false association between you and LDF or that incorrectly implies any sponsorship or endorsement of you by LDF.

NOTICE: Uses that do not comply with these Terms or that do not fall under Fair Use (or another exception) may make you liable for copyright infringement.

Read the full LDF Archival Collection Terms of Use Here.

I agree to the terms and conditions for use of this content.

If you would like to use this content in other ways, contact us at

Seek to End Ga. Insurrection Charges Against SCLC and SCC Workers

Collection
- Press Releases
Creator
- LDF
Taxonomy
Identifier
- f88ea278-b592-ee11-be37-00224827e97b

Cite this item

Press Releases, Volume 2. Rights Attorneys Seek End of GA. Insurrection Charge, 1964. f88ea278-b592-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/11488763-6265-4ee5-9e2f-a367629b0320/rights-attorneys-seek-end-of-ga-insurrection-charge. Accessed April 29, 2025.

Copied!

    10 Columbus Circle 
New York, N.Y. 10019 
JUdson 6-8397 

Legal Defense and Educational Fund 
PRESS RELEASE 
President 
‘ Dr. se Knight Chalmers conn tee 
igen cere 
Jack Greenberg Tuesday 

Assoctana Conrinah November 24, 1964 
Constance Baker Motley 

"RIGHTS ATTORNEYS SEEK END 
OF GA. INSURRECTION CHARGE 

SCLC And "SNICK" Staff Members Defended 

ALBANY, Ga,---NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorneys today asked a three- 
judge Federal Court here to stop the “insurrection" prosecutions of 
two Civil Rights leaders in this strife-torn Southwest Georgia city. 

The Legal Defense Fund brief was submitted in behalf of Rev. 
Samuel Wells of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and 
Donald Harris, a field secretary of the Student Non-Violent Coor- 
dinating Committee. 

Rev. Wells was arrested last August 18. 

Both Wells and Harris were charged with circulating insurrec- 
tionary papers, and Wells was further charged with attempting to 
incite “insurrection," a capital offense under Georgia law. 

Legal Defense Fund lawyers last year defended Harris and three 
other Civil Rights workers charged with insurrection. At that time, 
the insurrection statute was held unconstitutional. 

Albany Police Chief, Laurie Pritchett, however, said at a 
hearing that that ruling made no difference to him. 

These recent arrests came three days after a Negro was shot 
and killed by an Albany policeman. Handbills were distributed by 
the Albany Movement announcing a meeting to decide what form a pro- 
test should take. After the August 15 meeting, Wells led a group of 
about 16 people toward the police station. 

As they were peacefully walking, they were showered with bricks 
and bottles. Theysubsequently presented a written petition to the 
police. Although they signed the petition, Harris and Wells were 
not observed passing out handbills. 

Legal Defense Fund attorneys filed a removal petition asking 
the Federal District Court to take jurisdiction on August 22. When 
this was denied, they sought an injunction to stop the prosecutions 
on September 15. At that time they also asked that reasonable bail 
be set, and that no further arrests be made for voter registration 
activities. 

On October 15, trial was held before a special three-judge 
court consisting of 5th Circuit Justice Griffin B. Bell, and District 
Judges J. Robert Elliott and William A. Bootle. The Court requested 
the papers filed today by the Legal Defense Fund. 

Legal Defense Fund attorneys pointed out that the Georgia 
insurrection statute was first held unconstitutional by the VU. S, 
Supreme Court in 1937, and that this opinion was reaffirmed last 
year, They charged that it violated freedom of speech, and is so 
vague as to delineate no reasonable standards of guilt. 

Handling the case for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund are C.B. King 
of Albany, and Director-Counsel Jack Greenberg, Charles H. Jones, Jr., 
and Charles S. Ralston of New York. 

=30= 

Jesse DeVore, Jr., Director of Public Information—Night Number 212 Riverside 9-8487 >

Copyright notice

This collection and the tools to navigate it (the “Collection”) are available to the public for general educational and research purposes, as well as to preserve and contextualize the history of the content and materials it contains (the “Materials”). Like other archival collections, such as those found in libraries, LDF owns the physical source Materials that have been digitized for the Collection; however, LDF does not own the underlying copyright or other rights in all items and there are limits on how you can use the Materials. By accessing and using the Material, you acknowledge your agreement to the Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Materials.

Additional info

To the extent that LDF includes information about the Materials’ origins or ownership or provides summaries or transcripts of original source Materials, LDF does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy of such information, transcripts or summaries, and shall not be responsible for any inaccuracies.

Rights Attorneys Seek End of GA. Insurrection Charge

Collection

Creator

Taxonomy

Identifier

Cite this item

Copyright notice

Additional info

You may also be interested in