Supreme Court to Hear Ala. Death Penalty Case

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Press Releases, Loose Pages. Supreme Court to Hear Ala. Death Penalty Case, 1956. 5b7d2e4b-bc92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/9ac3b6d8-0012-46e4-a3fd-12be8e0b9a30/supreme-court-to-hear-ala-death-penalty-case. Accessed November 23, 2025.

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    “PRESS RELEASE® 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
107 WEST 43 STREET 

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN 
President 

ROY WILKINS 
Secretary 

ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS 
Treasurer 

° NEW YORK 36, N. Y. 

op 
JUdson 6-8397 

THURGOOD MARSHALL 
Director and Counsel 

ROBERT L. CARTER 
Assistant Counsel 

ARNOLD de MILLE 
Pross Relations 

SUPREME COURT TO HEAR 
ALA, DEATH PENALTY CASE March 28, 1956 

WASHINGTON, D.C.--The U. S, Supreme Court agreed Monday to review 

the case of an Alabama Negro convicted and sentenced to death for 

alleged burglary with intent to rape. The request was made by attor- 

neys for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. 

The prisoner, William Earl Fikes, 28, is being held in Alabama 

state penitentiary. He was sentenced to death June, 1953, following 

a reported unsuccessful attempt by an unknown intruder to rape the 

daughter of the Mayor of Selma, Ala. and burglarize her home. 

Several Negroes were arrested in connection with a report series 

of burglary and rape in Selma. Fikes was stopped in the street by a 

white citizen and held until the police arrived. He was taken into 

custody May 16, 1953, on “open charge" and held two days for "investi- 

gation" without being booked. Later, he was taken to Kilby State 

Prison where he was subjected to eight days of incessant questioning 

by police officials until he allegedly confessed. He was indicted by 

an all-white grand jury. 

Before trial, attorneys for Fikes petitioned the court to quash 

the indictment on the ground that Negroes were excluded from the grand 

jury and that the only evidence presented to the jury were two confes- 

sions extorted and illegally obtained through force and violence. 

These points were rejected by the trial court end the Alabama Supreme 

Court. 

At the trial, Fikes' accuser could not identify him as her assail- 

ant. The only evidence offered by the state were the two alleged 

confessions on which he was indicted. The court also refused a motion 

by the defense attorneys to let Fikes take the stand to refute the 

voluntary nature of the alleged confessions. 

In their appeal to the Alabama state court, attorneys for Fikes 

again raised the point of the alleged voluntary confession. The State 

Supreme Court upheld the lower court's conviction and death sentence 

and on June 22, 1955, denied a petition for a rehearing. The case was 



=25 

taken to the U. S. Supreme Court on November 22, 1955 by attorneys for 

the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. 

The petition to the Supreme Court asked the high tribunal to 

review the case on the grounds that Fikes had been denied his consti- 

tutional rights and due process of law. 

No date has been set for the hearing. 

NAACP Legal Defense attorneys for Fikes were Peter A. Hall and 

Orzell Billingsley, Jr., of Birmingham and Jack Greenberg of the Legal 

Defense Staff in New York. 

= 30 =

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Supreme Court to Hear Ala. Death Penalty Case

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