Black soldiers receive apology for wrongful convictions

I selected this article after my sister showed it to me, and I felt it pertained to the course.

The article can be found at http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/27/soldiers.apology.ap/index.html. The article states that an investigation revealed the wrongful convictions of 28 blacks accused of lynching an Italian POW. The Army issued a formal apology for the convictions at a ceremony in Seattle, Washington.

The convictions and trial seemed to be extremely unorganized and unfair. The defense lawyers were not provided with enough information about their clients or given enough time to prepare.

The article reminded me about other court decisions discussed during the last week of class. We have discussed how special courts with out juries were used intentionally for blacks and slaves in order to speed up convictions and not provide due process. This court case seemed very similar to readings in class as only two lawyers were defending 43 defendants.

“Forty-three black soldiers were charged with rioting and three also were charged with murder. Two defense lawyers were assigned to the case and given two weeks to prepare without ever being shown an Army investigation criticizing the way the riot was handled.” From, http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/27/soldiers.apology.ap/index.html.