The Trials of the nine Scottsboro boys opened at 8:30 on April 6th 1931. The courthouse was guarded by the Alabama National Guard. The defense was willing to allow all nine of the accused to stand trial at the same time, however the state demanded that there be four separate cases. The first trial was of Charlie Weems and Clarence Norris. Judge Hawkins presided over all four hearings. The chief witnesses for the prosecution were alleged victim Victoria Price, Orvil Gilley, and medical examiner Dr. H. H. Bridges. Ruby Bates, the other alleged victim, did not have her testimony entered as evidence because she was regarded as being slow witted and incapable of giving credible testimony. Orvil Gilley also did little to build the case of either side. Medical examiner Bridges testified that he had examined the girls shortly after they were taken into custody and found evidence that the two girls had engaged in intercourse, but found little evidence to suggest that they had indeed been raped("The First Scottsboro Trials"). Despite the weak evidence presented in the case both boys were convicted and sentenced to death. Over the next three days, the remaining seven boys would suffer through similar trials and were all convicted and sentenced to death, except for the youngest defendant, Roy Wright. The 13 year old boy was convicted but the jury was split between the death penalty and life imprisonment. Judge Hawkins declared a mistrial and Roy Wright was made to stay in prison until another trial at a later date. The other eight Scottsboro Boys had their executions scheduled for July 10, the earliest date allowed by law("Encyclopedia of Alabama:The Scottsboro Trials").
Following the decisions of the court the International Labor Defense (ILD), a communist organization, decided they would try to help defend the accused. The case reached the supreme court of Alabama, which decided to uphold the verdicts. Then the ILD moved the case to the Supreme court, which moved for retrials citing that the accused were not properly represented under the fourteenth amendment in 1932. By this time, The NAACP became involved with the trials. The Group was slow to react the to the allegations because the innocence of the accused was still in question. The combined efforts of the ILD and the NAACP brought in defense lawyer Samuel Liebowitz to lead the defense of the Scottsboro Boys("Encyclopedia of Alabama: Scottsboro Trials").
Defense Attorney Liebowitz
(http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_LIEB.jpg)
In the second set of trials begging in March 1933, Ruby Bates turned to the defense and testified that Victoria price had fabricated the story to avoid getting in trouble for violating the Mann Act. Despite the mounting evidence to suggest that the boys were innocent , the court, presided over by Judge James Horton, convicted the boys yet again and sentenced them to death. Judge Horton decided to override the jury's decision after talking to the medical examiners who convinced him that Victoria Price was lying. The state decided to pursue the case further but this time, under a judge sympathetic to the prosecution. After a third trial, with an entirely by white jury, the Scottsboro Nine once again found themselves convicted and sentenced to death in December of 1933. The Supreme Court of Alabama upheld the verdicts and once again the U.S. Supreme Court ordered new trial in 1935 citing that the accused were denied a fair trial because African Americans had been on Jackson County juries("Encyclopedia of Alabama: Scottsboro Trials").
In January of 1936, the fourth set of trials commenced. Patterson was convicted of rape, but his sentence was set at 75 years in prison. Powell was shot while assaulting a sheriff, but the charges of rape were dropped against him and he was sentenced to 20 years. Norris was convicted and sentenced to death, but the governor of Alabama reduced the sentence to life in prison. Wright and Weems were convicted of rape and sentenced to prison terms. Wright, Montgomery, Roberson, and Williams all had the charges of Rape dropped and were freed, thus ending the five year cycle of trials and appeals("Enclopedia of Alabama: Scottsboro Trials").
For Further information of the trials see the links embedded in this page.