U.S. Supreme Court Asked to Save Life of Alabama Negro

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Press Releases, Loose Pages. U.S. Supreme Court Asked to Save Life of Alabama Negro, 1960. e8203a99-bc92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/f2d3d37d-e5fa-419d-919b-90c1592e92e1/us-supreme-court-asked-to-save-life-of-alabama-negro. Accessed November 23, 2025.

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NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
1O COLUMBUS CIRCLE + NEW YORK 19,N.Y. ¢ JUdson 6-8397 

DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS > THURGOOD MARSHALL 
President Director-Counsel 

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U. S. SUPREME COURT ASKED 
TO SAVE LIFE OF ALABAMA NEGRO 

WASH., D.C., May 19.-- The U. S, Supreme Court was asked today 

to save the life of a youna Negro sentenced to death by an Alabama 

court for alleged burglary with intent to "ravish.” 

The condemned man, Charles Clarence Hamilton, 25, of Ensley, 

Ala. was arrested on the night of October 12, 1956 and originally 

charged with "nighttime burglary with intent to steal" for allegedly 

entering the bedroom of an elderly white woman. He denied the charge 

and insisted he was led into the house by the woman who spoke only 

semi-distinctly with a broken accent. 

Hamilton was represented at his trial on April 23, 1957 by a 

court-appointed white lawyer who tried to withdraw from the case at 

the trial but was prohibited from doing so by the judge. After a 

brief trial Hamilton was convicted on charges of burglary with intent 

to "ravish." The Supreme Court of Alabama, on September 17, 1959, 

affirmed the judgment and sentence of the lower court. 

Execution of the sentence was stayed by order of U. S. Supreme 

Court Justice Hugo L. Black on April 20, 1960 "pending disposition of 

a petition for certiorari to this Court [U. S. Supreme Court] upon 

condition that the petition for certiorari be filed here by May 20, 

1960." 

On May 5 the Governor of Alabama issued an Executive Order pro- 

viding that "reprieve be and is hereby granted until Friday, May 20th, 

at which time, unless otherwise ordered, let the sentence of death be 

executed," 

In an effort to head off the execution, attorneys for the NAACP 

Lega. Defense and Educational Fund today filed a petition with the 

U. S. Supreme Court asserting that Hamilton had no attorney when he 

was arraigned and that in death penalty cases defendants are entitled 

to legal] representation at every stage of the proceedings. 



The attorneys for Hamilton also charge that the trial was highly 

unfair in that the judge invited Hamilton to act as his own lawyer in 

conjunction with the court-appointed attorney. As a result of this, 

Hamilton repeatedly and seriously embarrassed himself and the judge 

reprimanded him several times in open court. 

In the petition filed today with the U. S. Supreme Court the 

attorneys asked that the high Court give the case full review. 

Attorneys for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund representing Hamilton 

are Thurgood Marshall, Jack Greenberg, Derrick A. Bell and James M. 

Nabrit, III, all of New York City, and Orzell Billingsley, Jr., Peter 

A. Hall, Arthur D. Shores and Oscar W. Adams, Jr., all of Birmingham, 

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U.S. Supreme Court Asked to Save Life of Alabama Negro

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