fense
             lawyers, a drunkard and a 70-year old attorney who hadn't been in a
             courtroom for 20 years, showed their incompetence from the beginning. The
             NAACP, notorious for coming to the defense of African Americans wrongfully
             accused, did not in this case, for fear of the out lash that would ensue.
             Found guilty, the boys were sentenced to death, again showing prejudice,
             since the death penalty was rarely used, even for white murder trials.
             Appealed to the Supreme Court, the Alabama court upheld the convictions.
             Finally, in the legendary Powell vs. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme court
             overturned the verdicts, and ordered a retrial. Though the retrial
             proceedings were obviously in favor of the defense, a white jury again
             found Powell guilty. The judge, James Horton, threw his career to the wind
             and threw out the jury's verdict, convinced of the defendants' innocence.
             He again ordered a retrial, which was equally unsuccessful. In the end,
             only four of the nine were ever pardoned, and those were in jail over 7
             years while their trials occurred (Linder).
             ...