Was unable to move to federal court, and therefore was not able to protest the white jury panel only. It was on Tuesday, October 21, 1879 that the U.S Supreme Court took on a case from out of state of West Virginia. The clerk of the circuit court certified the case to the county court, which completed its preliminary examination on September 9, 1874 and remanded Strauder to the circuit court for trial. Strauder fled the area and was arrested in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 25, 1872. Nor if a law should be passed excluding all naturalized Celtic Irishmen, would there be any doubt of its inconsistency with the spirit of the amendment.

Terrance Richard (Red River), Stratton, F(rederick) J(ohn) M(arrian)(1881-1960), Strauder v. West Virginia 100 U.S. 303 (1880) Virginia v. Rives 100 U.S. 313 (1880) Ex Parte Virginia 100 U.S. 339 (1880), https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/strauder-v-west-virginia. Dictionaries thesauruses pictures and press releases. Reporters for the Wheeling papers interviewed Strauder at the Atlantic Saloon, where he had stopped with his guard on the way from the B&O depot to jail. The jury itself might or might not include blacks. The judge said it was clear that Strauder was the murderer, as numerous witnesses had described his various confessions. I am very anxious to have the case finally settled, while he is yet alive. Justia Annotations is a forum for attorneys to summarize, comment on, and analyze case law published on our site. One filler read: “And we won’t have a hanging this month.

Black-stone, in his Commentaries, says, “The right of trial by jury, or the country, is a trial by the peers of every Englishman, and is the rand bulwark of his liberties, and is secured to him by the Great Charter.” It is also guarded by statutory enactments intended to make impossible what Mr. Bentham called “Packing juries.” It is well known that prejudices often exist against particular classes in the community, which sway the judgment of jurors, and which, therefore, operate in some cases to deny to persons of those classes the full enjoyment of that protection which others enjoy. The mere absence of blacks on juries, even over a period of decades, was not sufficient grounds for removal.27, Northern newspapers either ignored the Strauder decision, or merely printed a brief summary taken from the headnote. The jury continued deliberation the next day, and by noon they had found Strauder guilty, by this balloting: 1st Ballot: 9 to hang, 3 for life imprisonment Prejudice in a local community is held to be a reason for a change of venue. All the same civil rights that the superior race enjoyed. He held that the only applicable federal law in this instance was the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution which states, “The accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed.” Asked White, “Has this right been denied the prisoner? The very fact that colored people are singled out and expressly denied by a statute all right to participate in the administration of the law as jurors because of their color, though they are citizens and may be in other respects fully qualified, is practically a brand upon them affixed by the law, an assertion of their inferiority, and a stimulant to that race prejudice which is an impediment to securing to individuals of the race that equal justice which the law aims to secure to all others. 28. Strauder’s incarceration had given him the time to embark upon a program of self-education, and he seems to have earned the respect of the other inmates, of the lawyers, and of “all the officials with whom he was brought into contact.” Though a confessed murderer, few citizens who had read accounts of his years of prison life objected to his being freed. Certainly Davenport created a strong defense in a difficult situation, but the prosecution had an excellent case and one that sounded more convincing to the jury. colored race -- the right to exemption from unfriendly legislation against them distinctively as colored -- exemption from legal discriminations, implying inferiority in civil society, lessening the security of their enjoyment of the rights which others enjoy, and discriminations which are steps towards reducing them to the condition of a subject race. This record group cited hereafter as RDJ, NA.

By August 17, 1880, the Supreme Court of Appeals had done as ordered, setting aside the verdict and sentence of the second trial, and reversing the ruling of the circuit court that had denied to Strauder the removal of the case to federal court. Instead, it proceeded with an analysis of whether the denial of equal protection of the law confronting Strauder was of a nature sufficient to motivate an exercise of Congressional authority under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment to enact federal legislation allowing for the removal of cases such as Strauder's to the local federal district court, presumably where the trial process, under the supervision of a federal judge, would enforce the defendant's rights against the state. No State shall make or enforce any laws which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, not deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”, This is one of a series of constitutional provisions having a common purpose; namely, securing to a race recently emancipated, a race that through many generations had been held in slavery, all the civil rights that the superior race enjoy.


33. He also benefitted from a Supreme Court that was willing to take a few faltering steps to uphold the Fourteenth Amendment. He had served as a delegate to the West Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1872, where he aligned himself with the moderate Democrats; later he would serve one term in the state legislature (1873-1874). Does every citizen have a right to a trial by jury, selected to him and impaneled without discrimination against his race or color?
Sect. I am very feeble myself, and am quite anxious to have this case disposed of.” Notations indicate that the letter was not answered.31. There are various legal forms to be complied with before the matter can be settled, but it won’t take long.” About the prospect of returning to the too-familiar Wheeling jail, Strauder commented that the ventilation had been much better at the jail in Parkersburg, and that accordingly his health was much improved. He had found work as a carpenter there, and the police found him eight days after the murder, “at work driving nails.” One of the two plainclothes officers asked Strauder for the hatchet he was using, saying that he “desired to straighten a nail.” Strauder handed the hatchet to the officer, then saw that the second officer had drawn a revolver. Source: Homer A. Plessy v. John H. Ferguson. Ibid. Davenport and his partner Dovener asked for a retrial, and listed a number of errors in the proceedings. At that point, Strauder pleaded not guilty to the indictment, and the trial proceeded to jury selection, which resulted in an all-white jury. Strauder v. West Virginia. If the defendant has a right to have a jury selected for the trial of his case without discrimination against all persons of his race or color, because of their race or color, the right, if not created, is protected by those amendments and the legislation of Congress under them. 15. 12. In West Virginia, it stated “all white male persons who are 21 years of age, and who are citizens of this state, shall be liable to serve as jurors.”.

STRAUDER V. WEST VIRGINIA. The right to a trial by jury is guaranteed to every citizen of West Virginia by the Constitution of that State, and the constitution of juries is a very essential part of the protection such a mode of trial is intended to secure. Davenport wisely argued for the special necessity of a racially unprejudiced jury in this particular case, using the following argument: Your petitioner avers that under the laws of Virginia and West Virginia the relation of husband and wife was not recognized between slaves, and that an impression is general in this County and the adjacent ones, that colored men are not entitled to the same protection in their marital relations as white men. Citation100 U.S. 303, 25 L. Ed. STRAUDER v. WEST VIRGINIA. . –        Anti-subordination, means that we take into differences to make sure the outcomes are equal . Encyclopedia.com. The plaintiff in error, a colored man, was indicted for murder in the Circuit Court of Ohio County, in West Virginia, on the 20th of October, 1874, and upon trial was convicted and sentenced. It is merely the natural pleasant expression of his face.”8, In prescribing Strauder’s punishment, the judge suggested that Strauder should “abandon expectation of another trial… and try to make his peace with the Almighty Being whose law he had violated by his fearful crime.” The judge ordered that Strauder be hung by the neck until dead, at a location outside the Wheeling corporate limits, “it being the opinion of the court that there is no jailyard within the city limits large enough” to hold the crowds that were usual at public executions.9, Davenport appealed the case to the state Supreme Court of Appeals, on numerous grounds, including the West Virginia Statutory exclusion of blacks from juries, which he held to be a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. It set forth sufficient facts to exhibit a denial of that immunity, and a denial by the statute law of the State.

Facts: A black defendant was tried by a jury of all white males. "all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the same right in every State and Territory to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of persons and property as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, penalties, taxes, licenses, and exactions of every kind, and to no other.". He had the benefit of counsel that was generous and patient, and he benefitted from a United States Attorney General who was interested in Negro rights. These landmark cases declared that racial discrimination in jury selection, whether by law […] Judge Caldwell ultimately agreed that the 1872 indictment was still alive and before the federal court, and ordered Strauder discharged from state custody, finally freeing Strauder from his nine-years confinement. –        Institutionalizing an idea that they are inferior. 641 is such a provision.

Civil Rights Act of 1875, 18 Stat.