Witnesses Saw 'Blood All Over' But The Jury Set Harvey Conner Free

Title: Witnesses Saw 'Blood All Over' But The Jury Set Harvey Conner Free
Source Type: Newspapers
Author: Michael S. Lottman
Publisher: The Southern Courier
Publication Place: Montgomery, AL
Publication Date: 04/29/1967
Transcript: BY MICHAEL S. LOTTMAN, MONTGOMERY -- There is a story, about a man accused of stealing and, breaking an expensive antique vase. The, man tells the judge he has three defenses, --he never stole the vase; it was already, broken when he took it; and it was in perfect condition when he returned it., This is something like the case put on, by lawyers for Harvey Conner earlier, this month in federal court. Conner, a, former Elmore County sheriff's deputy,, was accused of violating the civil rights, of James Earl Motley, who died in jail, last Nov. 20., Conner gave the jurors a choice of three theories under, which they could set him free:, 1. Conner struck Motley with a slapjack, drawing blood,, only when Motley resisted arrest;, 2. There was no bloodshed until Conner and Motley arrived at the jail, where the victim fell and suffered the injury that killed him; and, 3. Motley's skull was unusually thin, so that a light blow, might have crushed it., When the jury of 11 white men and one Negro man acquitted Conner, there was no indication of which theory they, believed. It was clear, though, that they were not impressed, by the government's case, as presented by the local, attorney, Ben Hardeman, and his assistant, J. O. Sentell, It had been said many times since Motley's death that the, Justice Department in Washington was interested in the Conner case. If this was so, there was little evidence of Washington's interest when the case went to trial., No federal investigators of any kind testified for the prosecution, and the government's case included few details that, were not general knowledge months ago., The Justice Department did send one of its attorneys,, Frank Dunbar, to assist the local prosecutors. But Dunbar, collapsed while questioning the trial's first witness, and had, to be carried from the courtroom. Though he returned the, next day, he took little part in the case from then on., The charge against Conner was that he did "willfully assault, strike, beat, and injure" Motley, "with the intent and, purpose of imposing summary punishment upon him." This, said the federal government, deprived Motley of several, rights, including:, 1. The right "not to be deprived of liberty without due, process of law":, 2. The right "not to be denied the equal protection of the, law"), 3. The right "to be tried and punished in the same manner, as others accused of crime are tried and punished"; and, 4. The right "to be secure in his person from assault by, officers holding him in custody under authority of law.", The prosecution's case depended chiefly on the testimony, of Reuben Clark, a Negro airman, and Perry C. Stacks, a, white state trooper., Dunbar's questioning of Clark got off to an awkward start. After establishing that Clark was stationed at an Air Force, base in Macon, Ga., Dunbar asked him a many-worded question about what he was doing the night of Nov. 19-20., "I don't follow you," said the witness., Several more unproductive exchanges followed, before, Dunbar became ill. Hardeman then took over the questioning, and Clark's story began to come more easily., Clark said he was driving toward Wetumpka on Highway, 231 at about 1:40 a.m. Nov. 20, when Conner stopped him, and asked to see his driver's license, Motley was riding in, the back seat of the car Clark was driving., While Conner was questioning Clark, the airman testified,, a voice--probably Motley's--said, "You don't have any thing, to do with this. It happened in Montgomery County, not Elmore County.", At that, said Clark, the deputy replied, "You telling me how, to run my business?" Then, Clark testified, "Sheriff Conner, asked Motley out of the car," and searched him., While Conner was looking at Clark's Air Force identification, the airman said, Motley told the deputy, "You can't, bother him out of it, because he's got everything that he, needs." The deputy said to Motley, "Im getting tired of your, mouth. Get in the car." (Conner apparently meant his squad, car, not the car Motley came in.), But, said Clark, though "Conner kept telling Motley to get, in the car, Motley kept refusing Motley kept saying, 'I, haven't done anything.'" Even when Conner fired a shot,, the airman testified, "Motley still refused to get in the car." So Conner radioed for help, Clark said, and soon two state, troopers answered his call. Motley had gotten back into his, own car, but when the troopers arrived, he got out quietly., "That's when Sheriff Conner touched him on his right, shoulder," Clark testified. He said Conner asked Motley,, "Why didn't you get in the car when I told you to?", "At the same time," said Clark, "he was hitting him up, side the head." "After the first blow, Motley fell back on, the car--on the back glass of the car," the airman continued., "As he was falling back, the sheriff (Conner) hit him, "After the sheriff finished beating him, he was still laying back on the car. He slid off the car to the ground.", As state troopers took Motley to the deputy's car, Clark, testified, "Sheriff Conner said, 'Don't get that blood on my, seat., I heard a voice say, 'What's wrong with you, nigger?*, heard another voice say, 'Don't call him that,'", "Sheriff Conner told me he wouldn't make a case against, me If Motley hadn't been cutting up," Clark testified. He, said the deputy told him, "If anything comes up behind this,, Pll help you as much as can." Then, Clark said, "he told, me to drive the car home.", On cross-examination, defense attorney Glen Curlee, of Montgomery quickly put Clark on a first-name basis, "Reuben," he shouted, "how old are you?" (The answer, was 21.), Curlee seemed very interested in what Clark, Motley,, and their friends had been doing at Geeter's Place and the, Dagger Hole, where they had spent most of the night of Nov., 19. The prosecution finally objected when Curlee asked Clifk, whom he had danced with at Geeter's Place, but Judge Frank, M. Johnson Jr. let the witness answer., Curlee was not allowed to ask why Motley was nicknamed, Bronco." After that, he led Clark through his story of the, arrest again, turning up little that was new., Stacks, the government's next witness, corroborated Clark, on every important detail, including the manner in which, Conner struck Motley--"cross-armed.", The defense really began its case with one of the witnesses, the prosecution was using to the up some loose ends. The, government put Sam Cobb Jr., another former Elmore deputy, on the stand to identify Conner's slapjack--aflat leather, strap with a weight at one end., But on cross-examination, Cobb began to tell what had, happened when Motley arrived at the jail. Hardeman and, Sentell, the prosecutors, objected, but Judge Johnson said, they could cross-examine Cobb on the new testimony., Cobb said Motley got out of Conner's car under his own, power at the jail, then "went to staggering," and fell down., When Motley fell, Cobb testified, he hit his head on a metal, gate-post, The defense was later to claim that this was the, injury that caused Motley's death., Before that, though, the defense returned the prosecution's favor, by putting on a witness who helped the government's case as much as he helped Conner's, Isom Atkins, a, prisoner in the jail at the time of Motley's arrest, substantiated certain details of Cobb's testimony. But when Sentell cross-examined him, Atkins described, Motley's condition in some of the most shocking and gruesome testimony courtroom observers had ever heard., On orders from Conner, said, went out there to clean, up the car. There was blood on the seat There was blood, up front, on the dashboard.", In the cell he shared with Motley, Atkins continued, Motley, "got to coughin'." Then, said Atkins, lifting his head and, feet, Motley "raised up like this,", "That's when blood came out those two wounds up there,", he went on. "Stuff came out his mouth--it looked like foam.", When Conner came to the cell, Atkins said, he looked at, Motley's body and said, "I wonder, did he have a heart attack?", After Atkins was excused from the stand, the defense, began its major effort to show that Motley was killed by, the fall outside the jail and not by any blow that Conner, may have struck,, Guy Purnell, a state toxicologist from Auburn, testified, that Motley had suffered "two lacerations, to the right, side of the head, (that) penetrated to the skull,", Later, said Purnell, "I found that the skull was fractured., Several fractures were noted on this (right) side, of the head." On the left side of Motley's head, Purnell, said, there was only a "mouse," that did not bleed., Under questioning by one of Conner's lawyers, Robert, Alton of Montgomery, Purnell said the appearance of the, wounds "suggested" that the bump on the left side might, have been inflicted before the cuts and fractures on the right., What injury caused Motley's death? Alton asked. Purnell's opinion was that it was "the fracture to the skull that, was on the right side of the head." After such an injury,, Purnell said, Motley would not be able to walk or talk "for, a certain amount of time.", C. J. Rehling, another state toxicologist from Auburn,, testified that the lacerations above the fatal fractures "would, not be consistent" with a blow from a slapjack, but the, "mouse" would be. The lacerations, said Rehling, "would be consistent" with a man's stumbling and hitting his head, on a post., Through most of this attempt to absolve Conner from responsibility for Motley's death, the prosecutors sat silent., But at one point, Judge Johnson took over the questioning of, Purnell, and established that If Motley was bleeding "out on, the highway," the blood must have come from the jagged, cuts on the right side of Motley's head., The clear implication of Johnson's questions was that all, the previous testimony about blood was contradicted by the, defense's contention that the bloody, fatal wounds did not occur until Motley fell at the jail., And during Rehling's testimony, Johnson told the lawyers,, "You gentlemen should not lose sight of the fact that this, man is not charged with murder in this case.", In other words, Johnson was saying that Conner was being, tried for violating Motley's civil rights, and the government, did not have to prove that the deputy killed his prisoner. When Purnell returned to the stand, Alton asked the toxicologist two additional questions, and got two answers that, should have been extremely damaging to the defense case., Alton asked Purnell whether the cuts on Motley's head, were consistent with a blow from a slapjack. Purnell said, they were inconsistent" the instrument is used flat,", No one -not the defense or the prosecution- ever asked if, the lacerations were consistent with a blow from the edge of, a slapjack,, In response to Alton's second question, Purnell said Motley "could have gotten one of the lacerations" from falling, into the jail fence. But he added, "I find It hard to believe, he could have gotten two,", Neither side immediately pursued the issue. When Hardeman asked Conner about it later, the defendant said Motley, "might have butted his head again.", Purnell's testimony also raised the question of the thickness of Motley's skull. At the site of the fracture, said the, toxicologist, Motley's skull was less than 1/8" thick., "What is the normal thickness of a colored male's head?", Alton asked, Purnell said he didn't know, but that Motley's, skull was "thinner than adults Pve seen before." In fact,, he said, it was the thinnest he had ever seen., The climax of the defense's case was Conner's own testimony. The former deputy said Motley had been "mouthing, off" on the highway, and was obviously drunk., When the state troopers arrived that night, Conner said,, Motley got out of the car he had retreated to. But as Motley did so, said Conner, he "grabbed me in the collar...., asked him to turn me loose twice, He pulled my tie, loose.", So, Conner said, "I hit him twice, or three times--I think, It was twice--and some blood came." The defendant admitted several times that Motley was bleeding before he was, taken to jail., On the way to the jail, Conner testified, Motley said, "I, don't know what made me act this way.", In answer to a question by the third defense lawyer, George, Howard of Washington, Conner said there was blood all over, the car because Motley wiped his face with his hands and then, smeared the blood on the seats and dashboard., Under Hardeman's cross-examination, Conner insisted, that he hit Motley with the slapjack only because "he resisted.", If Motley was able to walk and talk after Conner struck, him as the defense contended-- why did the victim fall at, the jail? Hardeman asked., Conner said Motley was still able to walk when he arrived, at the jail. "He got out (of the squad car) walkin' good--just, like a drunk would," the deputy said., "Now drunks don't walk good, do they?" replied Hardeman., But Hardeman never really rattled the defendant. And, though the defense had opened up the issue of Conner's reputation--by putting on character witnesses to say It was, "good"--the prosecution left this area strictly alone., It took the jurors only 100 minutes to cut through the contradictions in the evidence--If, in fact, they bothered-and, to find Conner not guilty. The verdict very probably meant the end of any attempt to, get legal redress for Motley's death. The federal jury's finding of innocence and the Elmore County grand jury's earlier, refusal to indict Conner for anything would be an almost, unbeatable defense to any civil damage suit that might be, brought., MONTGOMERY--Most cases involving shootings, beatings, and killings never reach the federal courts. There is, no federal charge of murder, for example., Harvey Conner was tried in federal court on a charge of, acting "under color of law" to deprive James Earl Motley, of his civil rights. If convicted, Conner could have been, fined up to $1,000, and sentenced to as much as a year in, jail., There is another federal civil rights law, that carries a, much heavier sentence up to ten years in prison. But a, conviction under this law requires proof of a "conspiracy", of two or more people to deprive someone of legal rights., In the same courtroom where Conner was acquitted, three, men were convicted under the conspiracy law in 1965, in connection with the death of Mrs. Viola Gregg Liuzzo, The same, judge, Frank M. Johnson Jr., sentenced them all to ten years, in prison., Next month in Philadelphia, Miss., 19 men will face trial, under the conspiracy charge, in connection with the killings, of three civil rights workers during the Freedom Summer, of 1964. WETUMPKA -- When James Earl Motley was buried here last Nov. 27, the Rev., C. B, Croskery told the mourners, "It is time to have justice." But so far, no, one has been punished for Motley's death,, No one ever signed a warrant in connection with the death, although many people saw it happen. Last January, the Elmore County grand jury investigated the, case anyway. But the jurors refused to indict anyone after Dr. Joseph J. Benson, Elmore County coroner, showed them a certificate listing Motley's death, as "accidental.", The day after the grand jury refused to act, the federal government filed civil, rights charges against Harvey Conner, the deputy who arrested Motley the night, of Nov. 20., The first mass meeting in Elmore County history was held the Sunday before, Conner's pre-trial hearing, and about 75 Negroes attended his trial in federal, court this month. On April 12, they heard the familiar words--"not guilty."
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Part of Witnesses Saw 'Blood All Over' But The Jury Set Harvey Conner Free