Powell Parole Case for Supreme Court Review (Telegram)

Press Release
February 7, 1969

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Powell Parole Case for Supreme Court Review (Telegram) preview

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- 095dba46-b992-ee11-be37-00224827e97b

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Press Releases, Volume 5. Powell Parole Case for Supreme Court Review (Telegram), 1969. 095dba46-b992-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/a97315fa-d0b5-4386-8eac-3c0132a20bff/powell-parole-case-for-supreme-court-review-telegram. Accessed October 08, 2025.

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    198 

Feb. 7, 1969 

Telegram 

The U.S. Supreme Court was asked today to review a case seeking 

to determine whether or not the due process clause of the Fourteenth 

Amendment limits the manner in which a state conducts parole revocation 

proceedings. The High Court has not ruled in this specific matter. 

The case is that of Willie Powell, an indigent and illiterate Negro 

convicted of rape in Hillsborough County, Florida, in 1949 and 

sentenced to life imprisonment. He was paroled in 1966. His parole 

was subsequently revoked on the basis of a charge of rape on which 

he was acquitted in a criminal trial. At the parole revocation 

hearing he was denied the right to cross examine his accusers. He 

was also denied the right to subpoena a vital witness in his defense. 

The LDF feels that this case “provides a timely opportunity for the 

Court to consider constitutional questions raised by an essential 

aspect of modern correction."

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Powell Parole Case for Supreme Court Review (Telegram)

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