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Ruby Bates, 17, and Victoria Price, 21, both white, emerged from a freight train headed for Memphis, and said that the nine blacks had raped them. They all were arrested.
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A grand jury indicts all nine "Scottsboro Boys."
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Clarence Norris, Charlie Weems, Haywood Patterson, Olen Montgomery, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Eugene Williams, and Andy Wright are tried and convicted, and sentenced to death. The trial of Roy Wright ends in a mistrial when some jurors hold out for a death sentence even though the prosecution asked for life imprisonment.
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On the date first set for their executions, the Scottsboro boys listen to the execution of Willie Stokes, the first of ten blacks to be executed at the prison over the next ten years. After hearing gruesome reports of the execution, many of the boys report nightmares or sleepless nights.The boys feared of what was thought to come, death.
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Ruby Bates, in a letter to a Earl Streetman, denies that she was raped. Ruby confesses to her lie in attempt to free the boys.
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In Powell v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the defendants were denied the right to counsel, which violated their right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. The cases are remanded to the lower court.
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The I.L.D. asks Samuel Leibowitz to take the case while acknowledging its inability to pay any fees. He agrees.
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Haywood Patterson's second trial begins, this time in Decatur, Alabama, before Judge James Horton.
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The Alabama Supreme Court unanimously denies the defense motion for new trials. Leibowitz had argued that qualified blacks were systematically kept off jury rolls, and the names that were currently in the rolls had been forged after the fact.
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Ozie Powell pulls a knife and slashes Deputy Edgar Blalock's throat. Sheriff Jay Sandlin stops the car and shoots Powell in the head. Both Blalock and Powell survive.
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Ozie Powell pleads guilty to assaulting Blalock and is sentenced to 20 years. Rape charges are dropped.
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Weems is released on parole.
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Andy Wright and Clarence Norris are released on parole. Although later violate their paroles.
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Patterson is charged with murder after a barroom brawl.
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Victoria Price files a lawsuit against NBC for defamation and invasion of privacy after the broadcast of Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys; her claim is dismissed.
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Clarence Norris, the last of the Scottsboro Boys, dies.
