The U.S. Supreme Court this week agreed to review the case of a Birmingham, Ala. Negro arrested and sentenced to death…
Press Release
January 12, 1961

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Press Releases, Loose Pages. The U.S. Supreme Court this week agreed to review the case of a Birmingham, Ala. Negro arrested and sentenced to death…, 1961. 7af915e2-bc92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/b3942c8f-7792-4c5b-bee9-002ccbcb6969/the-us-supreme-court-this-week-agreed-to-review-the-case-of-a-birmingham-ala-negro-arrested-and-sentenced-to-death. Accessed June 13, 2025.
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PRESS RELEASE a NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 10 COLUMBUS CIRCLE «+ NEW YORK 19,N.Y. © JUdson 6-8397 DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS © Sa THURGOOD MARSHALL President Director-Counsel January 12, 1961 NEW YORK. -- The U. S. Supreme Court this week agreed to review the case of a Birmingham, Ala. Negro arrested and sentenced to death on the charge of "burglary with intent to ravish" a white woman. The convicted man, Charles Hamilton, was arrested in October, 1956 charged with entering a home with intent to burglarize and to rape an 80 year old white woman. While the burglary charge was dropped, Hamilton was sentenced to death for "intent to rape" and has been held in Kilby Prison, Montgomery, Ala. since April, 1957. The case was taken to the U. S. Supreme Court by attorneys for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in cooperation with Hamilton's Alabama lawyers on the ground that Hamilton was denied the services of an attorney at the preliminary stages of the proceedings. A lawyer was appointed by the court to defend him several days after he was brought before the court for arraignment and the entry of plea recorded. Legal Defense Fund attorneys contend in their petition to the U. S. Supreme Court that this denied Hamilton "due process of law." "The right to counsel in cases where the death penalty is involved is absolute at every stage of the court proceedings following the indictment of the defendants," the attorneys argue. They pointed out that the Alabama Supreme Court held last summer that under local law an accused did have the right to an attorney be- fore arraignment and entry of plea. However, the court denied Hamilton's request for a new trial stating that he did not show he was harmed by the lack of counsel at the arraignment, The major issue raised by Legal Defense attorneys in behalf of Ham on is whether the right to counsel at preliminary hearings and before arraignment in capital cases is absolute or not. Attorneys in the case are Peter Hall and Orzelie Billingsley of Birmingham, Ala., and Thurgood Marshall, James M. Nabrit, III and Jack Greenberg of the Legal Defense Fund staff in New York. = 30%