Ozie Powell and seven African American friends of his were taking a train, which was going through Alabama, and got into a fight with seven Caucasian boys. During the fight six of the seven Caucasian boys were thrown off of the train during the brawl. There were also two white women on the train that claimed to have been assaulted sexually by Ozie Powell and his friends. The African Americans were arrested by a sheriff and his men. The whole lot of them were taken to Scottsboro, Alabama and were held there. They were then indicted for rape. The defendants were tried only a week later and without the defendants being appointed or given a lawyer until the day of the trails. Since they were not given one until the last minute they had no time to plan a defense or get real counsel. The jury found them guilty and they were then sentenced to the death penalty. They then appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court but the Court upheld the original decision. After this they got the United States Supreme Court to hear the case.
There were very mixed emotions about the case and for many reasons. The first is that most people in Alabama were racists just wanted to see the defendants fry. This was present when after the arrest hundreds of people showed up to show their anger toward the accused after hearing about the assaults. After the trail though many people were furious that the defendants didn't have a lawyer until the morning of the trail. When the case went to the United States Supreme Court many people believed that Powell should have a lawyer from the North to help defend them, and arranged for him to have one.
The Supreme Court Justices looked at this case to see if due process had been denied or infringed. The main question was whether or not the Fourteenth Amendment made it so that one is to receive counsel before a capital case even if he/she cannot afford it.
The Court ruled favorably toward Powell with a 7:2 vote.