On August 28, 1955, a 14-year-old boy, Emmett Till, was abducted by two white men in Mississippi. The abduction and eventual murder of Emmett Till was a turning point for African-Americans in the United States at this time. This was a turning point in the United States because it was this event that sparked the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. The reason that this murder was such an enormous event is because the court case was corrupt and justice was not carried out in the proper way. The thesis of this paper is that the Emmett Till murder case should be classified as a mistrial and retried in court.
Emmett Till was visiting family in Money, Mississippi on August 24th when he reportedly flirted with a white female store clerk, Carolyn Bryant. Carolyn was the wife of Roy Bryant, the owner of the gas station. Carolyn claimed that Till grabbed her in the store when she was handing him his bubble gum, there were no witnesses to this. However, when Till and some other teenage boys were leaving the gas station Till was seen whistling at Carolyn. Three days later, Roy Bryant was told of this event and went on a manhunt for Till. On August 27th Roy Bryant and his half-brother John W. Milam decided to kidnap Till. On the first day of their search they could not find Till but they kept looking until they found him at 2:30 a.m. the morning of the 28th (1).
On this early morning Milam, Bryant, and an unidentified black man went into Moses Wright’s house, Till’s uncle. They threatened Till’s family members that if they told anyone that they were there, they would be killed. From this point on, the actions of Bryant and Milam are not known for certain. A witness, Willie Reed, claims that around 6:00 a.m. he saw a white and green truck with 8 people in it parking in front of Leslie Milam’s barn. Reed also claims that he heard hollering and whipping coming from the barn. Till was most likely shot and killed in the barn and then his body was delivered to the Tallahatchie River with a cotton gin fan connected to his neck by a barbed wire (2).
Till’s body was found three days later eight miles downstream. His body was badly beaten, bloated, and was barely recognizable as Emmett Till. Mamie Bradley, Till’s mother, insisted that her son’s body be displayed in an open casket so that everyone could see the gruesome damage inflicted by her son’s murderers. Over 50,000 people filed by Till’s casket and the picture of Till’s face was plastered across newspapers all over the United States. Bradley told reporters, “Unless an example is made of the lynchers of Emmett, it won't be safe for a Negro to walk the streets anywhere in America.”
Emmett Till was visiting family in Money, Mississippi on August 24th when he reportedly flirted with a white female store clerk, Carolyn Bryant. Carolyn was the wife of Roy Bryant, the owner of the gas station. Carolyn claimed that Till grabbed her in the store when she was handing him his bubble gum, there were no witnesses to this. However, when Till and some other teenage boys were leaving the gas station Till was seen whistling at Carolyn. Three days later, Roy Bryant was told of this event and went on a manhunt for Till. On August 27th Roy Bryant and his half-brother John W. Milam decided to kidnap Till. On the first day of their search they could not find Till but they kept looking until they found him at 2:30 a.m. the morning of the 28th (1).
On this early morning Milam, Bryant, and an unidentified black man went into Moses Wright’s house, Till’s uncle. They threatened Till’s family members that if they told anyone that they were there, they would be killed. From this point on, the actions of Bryant and Milam are not known for certain. A witness, Willie Reed, claims that around 6:00 a.m. he saw a white and green truck with 8 people in it parking in front of Leslie Milam’s barn. Reed also claims that he heard hollering and whipping coming from the barn. Till was most likely shot and killed in the barn and then his body was delivered to the Tallahatchie River with a cotton gin fan connected to his neck by a barbed wire (2).
Till’s body was found three days later eight miles downstream. His body was badly beaten, bloated, and was barely recognizable as Emmett Till. Mamie Bradley, Till’s mother, insisted that her son’s body be displayed in an open casket so that everyone could see the gruesome damage inflicted by her son’s murderers. Over 50,000 people filed by Till’s casket and the picture of Till’s face was plastered across newspapers all over the United States. Bradley told reporters, “Unless an example is made of the lynchers of Emmett, it won't be safe for a Negro to walk the streets anywhere in America.”
The day after Till’s body was found, Bryant and Milam were arrested for kidnapping. On September 3rd, two days before a grand jury was going to induct Bryant and Milam, the County Sherriff, H.C. Strider claimed that the body found in the river could not be Emmett Till. Strider claimed that the body was too large to be that of a fourteen-year-old boy and that the body had to have been in the river for four to five days instead of three. On September 19th, jury selection began. Finding twelve unbiased individuals, was very hard at this time, and they eventually ended up with 12 white men from Money, Mississippi (3).
In the 1950’s Mississippi’s population was 45% African-American, with only 5% of voting age blacks being registered to vote (4). This means that in Mississippi the population was almost half white and half African-American. Even though the population was so close to being half and half, the white people still ruled and suppressed the African-American citizens in Mississippi. In this instance, since the accused were two white males and the victim was black, the jury should have been split half black jurors and half white jurors or at least something similar. Since all 12 of the jurors were white males that knew Milam and Bryant personally, because they lived in the same small town of Money, Mississippi, this jury was very bias.
The result of the trial was that Bryant and Milam were not charged with the kidnapping or the murder of Till. The only reason they could not find these two men guilty is because of the fact that the state could not prove the body was Emmet Till. This accusation is completely ridiculous because, Mamie Bradley and Moses Wright both identified the body as Emmett Till. The jury took 67 minutes to deliberate on this case and it is suspected that those 67 minutes were just for show. The jury knew they weren’t going to charge Bryant and Milam with these crimes before they had even discussed it.
Only a few months later, protected by double jeopardy, Milam and Bryant sold the story of how they murdered Till to Look magazine for $4,000. Due to the circumstances of how unjust the jury was and the fact that Milam and Bryant publicly confessed, this case should be classified as a mistrial. Mistrials can occur for these reasons: death of a juror or attorney, an impropriety in the drawing of the jury discovered during the trial, a fundamental error prejudicial (unfair) to the defendant that cannot be cured by appropriate instructions to the jury (such as the inclusion of highly improper remarks in the prosecutor's summation), juror misconduct (e.g., having contacts with one of the parties, considering evidence not presented in the trial, conducting an independent investigation of the matter), and the jury's inability to reach a verdict because it is hopelessly deadlocked (5). This case should be classified as a mistrial and retried because the jury was obviously bias and unable to carry out the job they were given.
Bryant and Milam murdered Emmett Till and they were never held responsible for their actions. Mamie Bradley continued to speak out about her son’s murder and helped millions of people get fired up about how African-Americans were being mistreated, until she died in 2003. Bryant and Milam eventually both died of cancer, never being charged for the murder they had committed. Till’s cousin, an eyewitness to his kidnapping, summed this whole event up very well when he said, "J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant died with Emmett Till's blood on their hands, and it looks like everyone else who was involved is going to do the same. They had a chance to come clean. They will die with Emmett Till's blood on their hands (6)."
Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam killed a fourteen-year-old boy named Emmett Till, on August 28th 1955. This murder was justified because Till was a young African-American man that got killed by two white males in Mississippi during the 1950’s. This case marked the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement and showed the United States that African-American’s deserve equal rights. The months that followed Till’s murder were the biggest months of history in regards to the Civil Rights Movement. Who knew that the murder of a fourteen-year-old African-American boy would spark the beginning of a movement that changed United States history forever.
Bibliography
Cozzens, Lisa. "Mississippi & Freedom Summer." Watson.org. Published Jun 29, 1998. Accessed May 12, 2016.
http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/civilrights-55-65/missippi.html.
"Emmett Till Biography." biography.com. Accessed May 12, 2016. http://www.biography.com/people/emmett-till-507515.
"How Courts Work." American Bar Association. Accessed May 12, 2016. http://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/resources/law_related_education_network/how_courts_work/mistrials.html.
Linder, Douglas O. "The Emmett Till Murder Trial: An Account." umkc.edu. Published 2002. Accessed May 12, 2016. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/till/tillaccount.html.
The result of the trial was that Bryant and Milam were not charged with the kidnapping or the murder of Till. The only reason they could not find these two men guilty is because of the fact that the state could not prove the body was Emmet Till. This accusation is completely ridiculous because, Mamie Bradley and Moses Wright both identified the body as Emmett Till. The jury took 67 minutes to deliberate on this case and it is suspected that those 67 minutes were just for show. The jury knew they weren’t going to charge Bryant and Milam with these crimes before they had even discussed it.
Only a few months later, protected by double jeopardy, Milam and Bryant sold the story of how they murdered Till to Look magazine for $4,000. Due to the circumstances of how unjust the jury was and the fact that Milam and Bryant publicly confessed, this case should be classified as a mistrial. Mistrials can occur for these reasons: death of a juror or attorney, an impropriety in the drawing of the jury discovered during the trial, a fundamental error prejudicial (unfair) to the defendant that cannot be cured by appropriate instructions to the jury (such as the inclusion of highly improper remarks in the prosecutor's summation), juror misconduct (e.g., having contacts with one of the parties, considering evidence not presented in the trial, conducting an independent investigation of the matter), and the jury's inability to reach a verdict because it is hopelessly deadlocked (5). This case should be classified as a mistrial and retried because the jury was obviously bias and unable to carry out the job they were given.
Bryant and Milam murdered Emmett Till and they were never held responsible for their actions. Mamie Bradley continued to speak out about her son’s murder and helped millions of people get fired up about how African-Americans were being mistreated, until she died in 2003. Bryant and Milam eventually both died of cancer, never being charged for the murder they had committed. Till’s cousin, an eyewitness to his kidnapping, summed this whole event up very well when he said, "J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant died with Emmett Till's blood on their hands, and it looks like everyone else who was involved is going to do the same. They had a chance to come clean. They will die with Emmett Till's blood on their hands (6)."
Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam killed a fourteen-year-old boy named Emmett Till, on August 28th 1955. This murder was justified because Till was a young African-American man that got killed by two white males in Mississippi during the 1950’s. This case marked the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement and showed the United States that African-American’s deserve equal rights. The months that followed Till’s murder were the biggest months of history in regards to the Civil Rights Movement. Who knew that the murder of a fourteen-year-old African-American boy would spark the beginning of a movement that changed United States history forever.
- Douglas O. Linder, "The Emmett Till Murder Trial: An Account," umkc.edu, Published 2002, Accessed May 12, 2016, http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/till/tillaccount.html.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Lisa Cozzens, "Mississippi & Freedom Summer," Watson.org, Published Jun 29, 1998, Accessed May 12, 2016, http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/civilrights-55-65/missippi.html.
- "How Courts Work," American Bar Association, Accessed May 12, 2016, http://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/resources/law_related_education_network/how_courts_work/mistrials.html.
- "Emmett Till Biography," biography.com, Accessed May 12, 2016, http://www.biography.com/people/emmett-till-507515.
Bibliography
Cozzens, Lisa. "Mississippi & Freedom Summer." Watson.org. Published Jun 29, 1998. Accessed May 12, 2016.
http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/civilrights-55-65/missippi.html.
"Emmett Till Biography." biography.com. Accessed May 12, 2016. http://www.biography.com/people/emmett-till-507515.
"How Courts Work." American Bar Association. Accessed May 12, 2016. http://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/resources/law_related_education_network/how_courts_work/mistrials.html.
Linder, Douglas O. "The Emmett Till Murder Trial: An Account." umkc.edu. Published 2002. Accessed May 12, 2016. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/till/tillaccount.html.