|
 The board made the unanimous decision during a hearing in
Montgomery for three black men whose convictions were never
overturned in a case that came to symbolize racial injustice in the
Deep South in the 1930s.
"Today, the Scottsboro Boys have finally received justice," Gov.
Robert Bentley said.
Nine black males were falsely accused of raping two white women on a
train in northeast Alabama in 1931. The men were convicted by
all-white juries, and all but the youngest defendant was sentenced
to death.
The state senator who got a law enacted to permit posthumous pardons
said the Scottsboro Boys' lives were ruined by a justice system that
ignored evidence, and that it was time to right a wrong.
"It is a promising reminder of how far we have come as a state since
those regretful days in our past," Republican Sen. Arthur Orr of
Decatur said.
The founder of the Scottsboro Boys Museum in Scottsboro, Shelia
Washington, said the pardons "give the history books a new ending —
not guilty."
The Scottsboro Boys case became a symbol of the tragedies wrought by
racial injustice. Their appeals resulted in U.S. Supreme Court
rulings that criminal defendants are entitled to effective counsel
and that blacks can't be systematically excluded from criminal
juries.
The case inspired songs, books and films. A Broadway musical was
staged in 2010, the same year a museum dedicated to the case opened
in Scottsboro.
[to top of second column] |
Five of the men's convictions were overturned in 1937 after one of
the alleged victims recanted her story. One defendant, Clarence
Norris, received a pardon before his death in 1976. At the time, he
was the only Scottsboro Boy known to be alive. Nothing was done for
the others because state law did not permit posthumous pardons.
In April, the Alabama Legislature passed Orr's bill to allow the
parole board to issue posthumous pardons for old cases where the
convictions involved racial discrimination.
The three Scottsboro Boys considered by the parole board on Thursday
were Haywood Patterson, Charles Weems and Andy Wright.
The board said the other five — Olen Montgomery, Ozie Powell, Willie
Roberson, Eugene Williams and Roy Wright — weren't eligible under
the new law because their convictions were overturned on appeal and
the charges dropped.
Washington said some of the Scottsboro Boys changed their names and
started new lives. The museum, working with students and faculty
members at the University of Alabama, has found the graves of four
of the nine. Washington said the next goal is to find all the graves
and erect historical markers.
"They didn't know how much they meant in history while they were
alive," she said.
[Associated
Press; PHILLIP RAWLS]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
