Defense Fund Attorneys Secure Quick Relief for Shuttlesworth

    PRESS RELEASE 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
10 COLUMBUS CIRCLE © NEW. YORK, N. Y. 10019 °° JUdson 6-8397 

DR. LAN KNIGHT CHALMERS. - Se ope JACK GREENBERG i < “CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY cd 
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ape DEFENSS FUND ATTORNEYS SECURE 
QUICK RELIEF FOR SHUTTLESWORTH 

Supreme Court Acts Within 11 Days 

NGTON,D.C.--The U,S, Supreme Court this week reversed an’. 
onviction against Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Birmingham i 
eader, $ 

he high court ruled within 11 days after the oral argu 

sented before it by Jack Greenberg, director-couns-1 of thi NAACP 

‘Defense Fund. gt han 

7 Rev. Shuttlesworth faced 180 days in jail and a $100 fine for 
edly interfering with Birmingham police during the Freedom 
sof May 1961. Fie 

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4 The Justices delivered their swift ruling in three terse. 

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‘This case grew out of an incident in the Greyhound bus sta 

in Birmingham on May 17, 1961 when Rev, Shuttlesworth accompa 
‘group. of freedom riders to the terminal, 

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pees had tickets to Montgomery and were slated for a 3 o'clh ck 

de, arture. However, they were forced to wait for a later bus b 4 

cause the driver of the 3 pm bus refused to accommodate them, . 

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The; Birmingham police then appeared to take the riders into: 5 

tive custody." Rev, Shuttlesworth is reported to have es ped 

wy *) Tedyas to what was taking place, 

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4 ie was advised that such was not his concern, a , 

“However, Rev. Shuttlesworth insisted on accompanying the : 
£ to the local jail and was arrested. He was the only one of theggrap 

* against whom charges were pressed, 5 F 

F ~ Attorney Greenberg argued to the U,S, Supreme Court that: th 

* Alabama courts had denied Rev. Shuttlesworth due process of law On 

*, several grounds, The Supreme Court accepted the argument that the 2 

* Alabama courts improperly affirmed Rev. Shuttlesworth's conv tion 
on appeal on the theory that he assaulted an officer, althoug! he” 

é had not been accused of this in the trial court. ’ z ? 

The Supreme Court rejected the city's argument that Reve . 
& Shuttlesworth's appeal should fail because his lawyers filed a petl- 4» 

tion in the Alabama Supreme Court on the wrong size paper, 

- Rev, Shuttlesworth was represented by attorneys Peter A, Hall, ki 
y and Orzell Billingsley of Birmingham in the state courts. Th . 
Legal Defense Fund lawyers James M, Nabrit, III, Michael Melt@ner a 

and George B. Smith, all of New York, were listed as of course 

the brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, “g 

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