LDF Attorney Zarr to Take Davis Rape Case to Supreme Court

Press Release
February 26, 1969

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- LDF
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- 7dc9b94c-b992-ee11-be37-00224827e97b

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Press Releases, Volume 6. LDF Attorney Zarr to Take Davis Rape Case to Supreme Court, 1969. 7dc9b94c-b992-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/b906ad06-80c1-4223-a5db-6606900cc777/ldf-attorney-zarr-to-take-davis-rape-case-to-supreme-court. Accessed November 23, 2025.

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    3) 

L..... Ji... FE. 
NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. 
10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 

> > 

Hon. Francis E. Rivers e 
Directer-Coonsal 

President 

Jack Greenberg 
PRESS RELEASE 

Director, Public Relations 
Jesse DeVore, Jr. 
NIGHT NUMBER 212-749-8487 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

February 26, 1969 

NEW YORK, N.Y.--Attorney Melvin Zarr, a native of Worcester, now 

with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) 

today will make his first argument before the U. S. Supreme Court. 

He will defend 14 year-old John Davis, a Negro of Meridian, 

Mississippi who has been convicted of raping an elderly white woman 

and sentenced to life imprisonment. 

Attorney Zarr will Ghallenge the youngster's sentence on 

grounds that the Mississippi Supreme Court, from which the case is 

being appealed, denied him his rights guaranteed by the 4th and 14th 

Amendments of the U. S. Constitution. 

Mr. Zarr is a graduate of Clark University where he was elected 

to Phi Beta Kappa. 
the LLB degree from Harvard. 

He studied at Princeton University and received 

He is the son of Mrs. Samuel Silverman of 431 Lovell Street. 

=30= 

NOTE: Though the LDF was once a part of the National Association 

for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) it now is a 

separate organization, even though the initials are retained 

in its title. 

25

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LDF Attorney Zarr to Take Davis Rape Case to Supreme Court

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