Legal Defense Fund to Appeal King Contempt Ruling

    “PRESS RELEASE® e 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
1O COLUMBUS CIRCLE + NEW YORK19,N.Y. ¢ JUdson 6-8397 

DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS JACK GREENBERG CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY 
Prosident Director-Counsol Associate Counsel 

oS 

LEGAL DEFENSE FUND TO APPEAL 
KING CONTEMPT RULING April 26, 1963 

NEW YORK -- NAACP Legal Defense Fund Director-Counsel Jack Greenberg 

said today the conviction of Rev. Martin Luther King and 10 of his 

supporters in Birmingham County Court will be appealed immediately 

to the Alabama Supreme Court. 

Circuit Judge W. A, Jenkins of Birmingham ruled this morning that 

the Negro leaders were guilty of criminal contempt and sentenced them 

to 5 days in jail and $50.00 fine each, sentencing to begin on May 16. 

There was no finding of civil contempt. 

In addition to Mr, Greenberg, the Negro leaders were defended by 

Mrs. Constance Baker Motley and Attorney Arthur Shores of Birmingham. 

The trial took place Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in a tense court- 

room which included Rev. King and Southern Christian Leadership Con- 

ference officials Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth and Wyatt Tee 

Walker, 

The widence put on by Birmingham City Attorneys J. M. Breckinridg« 

and Earl McBee sought to prove that Negro demonstrators had violated 

an injunction against unlawful picketing and parading issued by 

Judge Jenkins on April 13, specifically by demonstrations on Good 

Friday, when King and Abernathy were arrested, and Easter Sunday. 

They also cited a press conference which SCLC officials held in which 

they said the injunction would not stop them from protesting against 

segregation in Birmingham, 

Greenberg told the court that the injunction was a prior 

restraint on free speech and that the demonstrations by Negro leaders 

were lawful exercises of free speech "in its most pristine form," 

An unusual feature of the trial was the calling to the witness 

stand by Legal Defense Fund attorneys of Eugene "Bull" Connor, Com- 

missioner of Public Safety and an avowed "tough" segregationist. He 



Appeal King Contempt Ruling -- 2. 

was examined by Mrs. Constance Baker Motley about an application for 

a parade permit which had been made by Rev. Shuttlesworth, Judge 

Jenkins did not allow Connor to testify about this but Mrs, Motley 

put on the stand Lola Hendricks, a member of the Alabama Christian 

Movement for Human Rights, who testified that she went to Commis- 

sioner Connor's office to ask about a permit prior to the demonstra- 

tions and was told by him, "No, you'll not get a permit in Birmingham, 

I'll picket you to the City Jail." 

Legal Defense Fund attorneys contended that efforts to obtain 

permits to demonstrate were germaine to the case since the demonstra- 

tors of Good Friday and Easter Sunday were arrested for “parading 

without a permit." 

The injunction remains in effect until some determination is made 

upon appeal, but Greenberg said today he has prepared for a permit 

application for future demonstrations. 

Four of the original 15 defendants were dismissed because of lack 

of testimony. Judge Jenkins refused to grant a similar motion on 

behalf of SCLC official Andrew Young. 

This marked the first appearance together of Jack Greenberg and 

Mrs. Constance Baker Motley in a case of this type on a county court 

level. Though the N.A.A.C.P. is outlawed in Alabama, the NAACP Legal 

Defense Fund has participated in many segregation cases involving that 

state. 
HHAH