New Trial Asked for Reeves

    PRESS RELEASE e 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
107 WEST 43 STREET 

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN 
President 

WALTER WHITE 
Secretary 

ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS 
Treasurer 

NEW YORK 36, JUdson 6-8397 

THURGOOD MARSHALL 
Director and Counsel 

ROBERT L. CARTER 
Assistant Counsel 

ARNOLD DE MILLE 
Press Relations 

NEW TRI‘ L ASKED FOR REEVES 

WASHINGTON, NOV. 12 = The U. S. Supreme Court was asked today 

to set aside the conviction and death sentence of Jeremiah Reeves, 

dre, 19-year old Negro youth convicted by an all-white Alabama jury 

for the alleged rape of a white woman, and send the case back to the 

Alabama court for a new trial. 

The request was made in a reply brief filed by lawyers for NAACP 

Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., in behalf of Reevess 

Reeves was arrested on November 10, 1952, four months after a 

white woman claimed she had been attacked by an unknown assailant, 

He was held in the state penitentiary at Kilby, Ala., for three days 

without being permitted to see or consult with family, friends or 

counsel, During that time, he was subjected to constant questioning 

in a room with an electric chair and told that if he did not confess 

to the crime he would die. A confession would save him, police 

officials insisted. 

At the trial, held in Montgomery, the judge cleared the court- 

room of all persons except witnesses and court officials, A motion 

by Reeves! attorney to have the trial open to the public, in 

accordance with the Federal Constitution, was denied. Another mo- 

tion by him to have his private stenographer and members of the press 

remain in the courtroom was likewige denied, 

A number of witnesses testified in Reeves! behalf as to his 

whereabouts on the date and time of the alleged crime. Further, 

several testified that Reeves was emotionally unbalanced. He was 

17 at that time. 

Nearing the close of the trial, it was discovered for the first 

time that one of the jurors was the chief of the Montgomery Reserve 

Police Force, organized to track down "alleged Negro rapists", and 

had been active in the case, Reeves! attorney then asked for a 



mistrial. The motion was denied. 

A petition for rehearing was denied by the Alabama Supreme 

Court on November 27, 1953. NAACP Legal Defense attorneys then peti- 

tioned the U. S. Supreme Court for a hearing on March 12, 1954. It 

was granted June 7. 

NAACP Legal Defense lawyers asked the high court to set aside the 

conviction and send the case back to the trial court on the grounds 

that Reeves was denied a fair and impartial trial; that the confes- 

sion used to convict Reeves was obtained by force, and that Negroes 

were systematically excluded from the jury which convicted him. 

The attorneys representing Reeves are Thurgood Marshall, direc- 

tor-counsel of NAACP Legal Defense, Robert L. Carter, assistant, Jack 

Greenberg and Elwood H. Chisolm of Legal Defense staff, Louis ie 

Pollak of New York, and Peter A. Hall of Birmingham, Alabama, 

TEMPORARY INJUNCTION AGAINST 
CAMDEN HOUSING AUTHORITY November 12, 195) 

CAMDEN, N.J., Nov. 12.--The Camden, N. J. Housing Authority was 

today enjoined from discriminating against Negroes in the selection of 

tenants for the remaining vacant units in the Peter McGuire federally- 

aided low rent project, by an interlocutory injunction, 

The temporary injunction was issued and signed by Judge Vinson 
S. Haneman of the New Jersey Superior Court, Camden County, Division 
of Chancery, after a three day trial in which seven Negro families 
accused the housing officials of assigning all Negro applicants to 
Roosevelt, another federally-aided low rent project, 

The authorities issued a blanket denial of all charges but the 
testimonies of the witnesses indicated that the practice of discrim- 
ination does exist. Negro tenants said that rerardless of their 
choice of project indicated in their applications, they were system- 
atically assigned to the Roosevelt project designated for Negroes. 

The trial of Homer Miller v. Joseph McComb began Monday, Novem- 
ber 8, and continued through Wednesday, November 10. It was continued 
until February 2. 

In addition to the seven Negro families, Dr. Ulysses S, Wiggins, 
President, Camden Branch of the National Association for the Advance- 
ment of Colored People and Mr. Harry Hazlewood, Jr., Chairman of the 
Housing Committee of the Camden Branch were plaintiffs in the case. 
The suit was brought on their behalf as tax payers of the city of 
Camden. 

Attorneys for Miller and the Negro residents are Robert Burke 
Johnson of Camden, and Mrs. Constance Baker Motley of the staff of 
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. 

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