The Motley Case
Item
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Title
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The Motley Case
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Source Type
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Newspapers
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Publisher
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Chicago Daily Defender
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Publication Place
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Chicago, IL
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Publication Date
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01/23/1967
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Transcript
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The Motley Case An all-white county grand jury declined to return an indictment against a former deputy sheriff accused of beating James Earl Motley, a Negro who later was taken dead from his jail cell. The case came to light last November after agents of the Department of Justice investigated the circumstances of Motley's death in the Wetumpka county jail near Montgomery, Ala. The Department of Justice declares that the former deputy, Harvey Conner, "did willfully assault, strike, beat and injure" Motley. Under the govern- ment's charges, Conner would face a maximum pen- alty of one year's imprisonment and a $1,000 fine. The case against him is. based on a federal "color of law" statute - one of several civil rights la WS passed by Congress during Reconstruction - making it a misdemeanor to deprive a citizen of rights guaranteed him by the federal constitution. One of these rights is the right not to be punished without a trial.
The Motley Case