Screws v. United States

1945 United States Supreme Court case

Screws v. United States

Supreme Court of the United States

Argued October 20, 1944
Decided May 7, 1945
Full case name| Mack Claude Screws v. United States
Citations| 325 U.S. 91 (more)

65 S. Ct. 1031; 89 L. Ed. 2d 1495

Case history
Prior| 140 F.2d 662 (5th Cir. 1944).
Procedural| Cert. granted, 322 U.S. 718 (1944).
Holding
In general, a conviction under 18 U.S.C. §242 requires proof of the defendant's specific intent to deprive the victim of a federal right. In Screws, the prosecution has failed to prove such deliberate intent.
Court membership

Chief Justice
Harlan F. Stone
Associate Justices
Owen Roberts * Hugo Black
Stanley F. Reed * Felix Frankfurter
William O. Douglas * Frank Murphy
Robert H. Jackson * Wiley B. Rutledge
Case opinions
Plurality| Douglas, joined by Stone, Black, Reed
Concurrence| Rutledge
Dissent| Murphy
Dissent| Roberts, joined by Frankfurter, Jackson

Screws v. United States, 325 U.S. 91 (1945), was a 1945 Supreme Court case that made it difficult for the federal government to bring prosecutions when local government officials killed African-Americans in an extra-judicial manner. The case overturned the conviction of Baker County, Georgia sheriff Claude Screws for violating the civil rights of Robert Hall, who was lynched by Screws and two deputies on the grounds of the Baker County Courthouse.

## Lynching of Robert Hall

[edit]

Postmortem photograph of police lynching victim Robert Hall

Robert "Bobby" Hall was an African American mechanic and World War II veteran. Hall acquired a .38 semi-automatic pistol with a pearl handle during his overseas service, and was harassed by county sheriff Claude M. Screws upon returning to Baker County, Georgia. Screws confiscated Hall's pistol out of a belief that Black Americans should not own firearms.[1] Robert Hall contacted a white attorney for assistance in the return of his firearm. Screws received a letter from Hall's lawyer on January 29, 1943, demanding that Hall, who had not been charged with any crime, have his property returned. The same day, Claude Screws produced a forged arrest warrant alleging Robert Hall had stolen a tire. Hall was subsequently arrested at his home by two deputies at the request of Screws. Upon arriving at the Baker County Courthouse grounds, the two deputies and the inebriated sheriff Claude Screws then brutalized the handcuffed Hall for fifteen to thirty minutes in public view.[2] Robert Hall fell unconscious during the beating, and died of his injuries within an hour.[3]

## Case

[edit]

Following the lynching of Robert Hall, the local U.S. attorney convened a grand jury which indicted Screws, as well as Special Deputy Jim Bob Kelly and officer Frank Edward Jones, on charges of violating Hall's civil rights.[4] All three men were convicted at the federal court house in Albany, Georgia. They were each sentenced to three years in federal prison and fined $1000. The conviction was upheld by the Circuit Court and then appealed to the Supreme Court. While the case was moving through the courts Screws was reelected as sheriff by a very wide margin.[5]

The Supreme Court, in a decision authored by William O. Douglas, ruled that the federal government had not shown that Screws had the intention of violating Hall's civil rights when he killed him. This ruling greatly reduced the frequency with which federal civil rights cases were brought over the next few years.[6]

## See also

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* List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 325
* Enforcement Act of 1870

## References

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1. ^ Urofsky, Melvin I. (2004). "Mack Claude Screws". 100 Americans Making Constitutional History: A Biographical History. CQ Press. pp. 180–82\. ISBN 9781452267258.180-82&rft.pub=CQ+Press&rft.date=2004&rft.isbn=9781452267258&rft.aulast=Urofsky&rft.aufirst=Melvin+I.&rft_id=https://books.google.com/books?id=5UN1AwAAQBAJ&pg;=PA180&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Screws+v.+United+States" class="Z3988">
2. ^ Branch, Taylor (1988). Parting the Waters: American in the King Years, 1954–63. New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 408\. ISBN 0-671-46097-8.
3. ^ Yeomans, Georgina C. (2015). "WHEN COPS ARE ROBBERS: RECONCILING THE WHREN DOCTRINE AND 18 U.S.C. § 242". Columbia Law Review. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
4. ^ Chalmers, David Mark (2005). Backfire: How the Ku Klux Klan Helped the Civil Rights Movement. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 74\. ISBN 9780742523111.
5. ^ "Bascom Deaver Lynch Sheriff Denied Retrial Pittsburgh Courier Mar 11 1944". The Pittsburgh Courier. March 11, 1944. p. 5. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
6. ^ Waldrep, Christopher (2001). Racial Violence on Trial: A Handbook with Cases, Laws and Documents. ABC-CLIO. pp. 76.

## Further reading

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* Cohen, Julius (1946). "The Screws Case: Federal Protection of Negro Rights". Columbia Law Review. 46 (1): 94–106\. doi:10.2307/1118266. JSTOR 1118266.94-106&rft.date=1946&rft_id=info:doi/10.2307/1118266&rft_id=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1118266#id-name=JSTOR&rft.aulast=Cohen&rft.aufirst=Julius&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Screws+v.+United+States" class="Z3988">
* Putzel, Henry Jr. (1951). "Federal Civil Rights Enforcement: A Current Appraisal". University of Pennsylvania Law Review. 99 (4): 439–454\. doi:10.2307/3309630. JSTOR 3309630.439-454&rft.date=1951&rft_id=info:doi/10.2307/3309630&rft_id=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3309630#id-name=JSTOR&rft.aulast=Putzel&rft.aufirst=Henry+Jr.&rft_id=https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8198&context;=penn_law_review&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Screws+v.+United+States" class="Z3988">
* Watford, Paul J. (2014). "Screws v. United States and the Birth of Federal Civil Rights Enforcement". Marquette Law Review. 98 (1): 465–486.465-486&rft.date=2014&rft.aulast=Watford&rft.aufirst=Paul+J.&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Screws+v.+United+States" class="Z3988">

## External links

[edit]

* Text of Screws v. United States, 325 U.S. 91 (1945) is available from: Justia Library of Congress

* v
* t
* e

Lynching in the United States

List of lynching victims in the United States

| Before 1900|

* Francis McIntosh (1836)
* Elijah Parish Lovejoy (1837)
* Josefa Segovia (1851)
* Pancho Daniel (1858)
* Joshua Boyd (1863)
* Henry Plummer (1864)
* Bill Sketoe (1864)
* Clubfoot George (1864)
* Steve Long, Ace and Con Moyer (1868)
* Wyatt Outlaw (1870)
* John W. Stephens (1870)
* Alexander Boyd (1870)
* Jim Williams (1871)
* David Jones (1872)
* Jo Reed (1875)
* Arthur St. Clair (1877)
* Michael Green (1878)
* Joseph Standing (1879)
* Big Nose George Parrott (1881)
* Charles Thurber (1882)
* John Wesley Heath (1884)
* Eliza Woods (1886)
* Samuel "Mingo Jack" Johnson (1886)
* Amos Miller (1888)
* Joseph Vermillion (1889)
* George Meadows (1889)
* Ellen Watson (1889)
* Brown Washington (1890)
* Jim Taylor (1891)
* Dick Lundy (1891)
* Joe Coe (1891)
* Robert Lewis (1892)
* Ephraim Grizzard (1892)
* Samuel J. Bush (1893)
* John Peterson (1893)
* Alfred Blount (1893)
* Henry Smith (1893)
* Richard Puryear (1894)
* Stephen Williams (1894)
* Amos Hicks (1894)
* Jacob Henson (1896)
* William Andrews (1897)
* Joseph H. McCoy (1897)
* John Anderson (1898)
* John Henry James (1898)
* F. W. Stewart (1898)
* Sam Hose (1899)
* Benjamin Thomas (1899)

|

1900–1940|

* Fred Rochelle (1901)
* Ballie Crutchfield (1901)
* George Ward (1901)
* Walker Davis (1903)
* J. D. Mayfield (1903)
* George White (1903)
* David Wyatt (1903)
* Marie Thompson (1904)
* Paul Reed and Will Cato (1904)
* Bunk Richardson (1906)
* Ed Johnson (1906)
* Slab Pitts (1906)
* William Burns (1907)
* Earnest Williams (1907)
* Jim Miller (1909)
* James Hodges (1909)
* Matthew Chase (1909)
* "Mose" Creole (1909)
* "Pie" Hill (1909)
* William "Froggie" James and Henry Salzner (1909)
* Grant Richardson (1910)
* King Johnson (1911)
* Name unknown (TX) (1911)
* Laura and L. D. Nelson (1911)
* Will Porter (1911)
* Zachariah Walker (1911)
* Mary Jackson (1912)
* Rob Edwards (1912)
* George Saunders (1912)
* Robert Perry (1913)
* ? Anderson (1913)
* Charles Fisher (1914)
* John Evans (1914)
* Leo Frank (1915)
* Name unknown (MS) (1915)
* Jesse Washington (1916)
* Anthony Crawford (1916)
* Jeff Brown (1916)
* Paulo Boleta (1916)
* Frank Little (1917)
* Charles Jones (1917)
* Ell Persons (1917)
* Robert Prager (1918)
* Mary Turner and her unborn baby (1918)
* Hazel "Hayes" Turner (1918)
* George Taylor (1918)
* Jim McIlherron (1918)
* Olli Kinkkonen (1918)
* Wallace Baynes (1919)
* Will Brown (1919)
* Wesley Everest (1919)
* John Hartfield (1919)
* Jay Lynch (1919)
* Berry Washington (1919)
* Willie Baird (1920)
* Roy Belton (1920)
* Dick Rowland (attempted) (1921)
* Henry Lowry (1921)
* James Harvey and Joe Jordan (1922)
* Joe Pullen (1923)
* Samuel Smith (1924)
* L. Q. Ivy (1925)
* Raymond Byrd (1926)
* James Clark (1926)
* Fred N. Selak (1926)
* Tom Payne (1927)
* John Carter (1927)
* Dan Anderson (1927)
* Will Sherod (1927)
* Bernice Raspberry (1927)
* Owen Flemming (1927)
* Joseph Upchurch (1927)
* Joe Smith (1927)
* Albert Williams (1927)
* Thomas Bradshaw (1927)
* Winston Pounds (1927)
* Thomas Williams (1927)
* Henry Choate (1927)
* Leonard Woods (1927)
* J. C. Collins (1928)
* George Hughes (1930)
* James Cameron (1930)
* Lynching of Raymond Gunn (1931)
* Matthew Williams (1931)
* Shedrick Thompson (1932)
* George Armwood (1933)
* Cordie Cheek (1933)
* Claude Neal (1934)
* Austin Callaway (1940)
* Elbert Williams (1940)

After 1940|

* Felix Hall (1941)
* Johannes Kunze (1943)
* Robert "Bobbie" Hall (1943)
* Willie James Howard (1944)
* Recy Taylor (1944)
* John Cecil Jones (1946)
* Willie Earle (1947)
* Lamar Smith (1955)
* George W. Lee (1955)
* Emmett Till (1955)
* Judge Edward Aaron (1957)
* Willie Edwards (1957)
* Mack Charles Parker (1959)
* Louis Allen (1964)
* Lemuel Penn (1964)
* Frank Morris (1964)
* James Reeb (1965)
* Vernon Dahmer (1966)
* Wharlest Jackson (1967)
* Carol Jenkins (1968)
* Henry Marrow (1970)
* Marian Pyszko (1975)
* Betty Gardner (1978)
* Arthur McDuffie (1979)
* Michael Donald (1981)
* Yusef Hawkins (1989)
* James Byrd Jr. (1998)
* James Craig Anderson (2011)
* Ahmaud Arbery (2020)

Multiple victims

* Death of Joseph Smith (Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith) (1844)
* Marais des Cygnes, KS, massacre (1858)
* Great Hanging at Gainesville, TX (1862)
* New York City draft riots (1863)
* Detroit race riot (1863)
* ? Lachenais and four others (1863)
* Fort Pillow, TN, massacre (1864)
* Plummer Gang (1864)
* Memphis massacre (1866)
* Gallatin County, KY, race riot (1866)
* New Orleans massacre of 1866
* Reno Brothers Gang (1868)
* Camilla, GA, massacre (1868)
* Steve Long and two half-brothers (1868)
* Pulaski, TN, riot (1868)
* Samuel Bierfield and Lawrence Bowman (1868)
* Opelousas, LA, massacre (1868)
* Bear River City riot (1868)
* Chinese massacre of 1871
* Meridian, MS, race riot (1871)
* Colfax, LA, massacre (1873)
* Election riot of 1874 (AL)
* Juan, Antonio, and Marcelo Moya (1874)
* Benjamin and Mollie French (1876)
* Ellenton, SC, riot (1876)
* Hamburg, SC, massacre (1876)
* Thibodeax, LA, massacre (1878)
* Mart and Tom Horrell (1878)
* Nevlin Porter and Johnson Spencer (1879)
* Elijah Frost, Abijah Gibson, Tom McCracken (1879)
* T.J. House, James West, John Dorsey (1880)
* New Orleans 1891 lynchings (1891)
* Ruggles Brothers (CA) (1892)
* Thomas Moss, Henry Stewart, Calvin McDowell (TN) (1892)
* Porter and Spencer (MS) (1897)
* Phoenix, SC, election riot (1898)
* Wilmington, NC, insurrection (1898)
* Julia and Frazier Baker (1898)
* Pana, IL, riot (1899)
* Watkinsville lynching (1905)
* 1906 Atlanta race massacre
* Kemper County, MS (1906)
* Walker family (1908)
* Springfield race riot of 1908
* Slocum, TX, massacre (1910)
* Laura and L.D. Nelson (1911)
* Harris County, GA, lynchings (1912)
* Newberry, FL, lynchings (1916)
* East St. Louis, IL, riots (1917)
* Lynching rampage in Brooks County, GA (1918)
* Jenkins County, GA, riot (1919)
* Longview, TX, race riot (1919)
* Elaine, AR, race riot (1919)
* Omaha race riot of 1919
* Knoxville riot of 1919
* Red Summer (1919)
* Duluth, MN, lynchings (1920)
* Ocoee, FL, massacre (1920)
* Tulsa race massacre (1921)
* Perry, FL, race riot (1922)
* Rosewood, FL, massacre (1923)
* Jim and Mark Fox (1927)
* Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith (1930)
* Tate County, MS (1932)
* Thomas Harold Thurmond and John M. Holmes (1933)
* Roosevelt Townes and Robert McDaniels (1937)
* Beaumont, TX, Race Riot (1943)
* O'Day Short, wife, and two children (1945)
* Moore's Ford, GA, lynchings (1946)
* Harry and Harriette Moore (1952)
* Anniston, AL (1961)
* Freedom Summer Murders (James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner) (1964)
* Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore (1964)

| General|

* Lynching
* Indiana White Caps
* Jim Crow laws
* Ku Klux Klan
* Nadir of American race relations
* Red Shirts
* Jews

|

Anti-lynching movement|

* American anti-lynching activists
* American Crusade Against Lynching
* Jessie Daniel Ames
* Martin C. Ansorge
* Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching
* Flossie Bailey
* William O'Connell Bradley
* Ella Barksdale Brown
* Father Divine
* "Flag Salute"
* N.A.A.C.P.
* National Conference on Lynching
* Paul Robeson
* "Strange Fruit"
* Ida B. Wells

| Legislation|

* Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill
* Costigan-Wagner Bill
* Justice for Victims of Lynching Act
* Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act
* Emmett Till Antilynching Act

|

Defenders of lynching|

* Theodore G. Bilbo
* Cole L. Blease
* Julian S. Carr
* Sidney Johnston Catts
* Thomas Dixon Jr.
* Rebecca Latimer Felton
* John Temple Graves
* John Trotwood Moore
* John T. Morgan
* James Rolph
* Goodloe Sutton
* Benjamin Tillman
* James K. Vardaman
* Thomas E. Watson

Memory|

* America's Black Holocaust Museum
* Civil Rights Memorial
* The Legacy Museum
* National Memorial for Peace and Justice
* National Museum of African American History and Culture
* Southern Poverty Law Center

Related articles|

* James Allen (collector)
* "And you are lynching Negroes"
* Attack on John Shillady
* Battle of Liberty Place
* The Birth of a Nation
* The Clansman
* Deaths in police custody
* Fury (1936 film)
* Hang 'Em High
* Lynching postcard
* Mississippi Burning
* Mississippi Cold Case
* Murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson (1965)
* The Ox-Bow Incident
* Parade (musical)
* Reconstruction era
* Red Summer
* Scottsboro Boys
* Silent Parade
* Stone Mountain
* Summer in Mississippi
* Sundown town (list)
* They Won't Forget
* "The United States of Lyncherdom" (Twain)
* United States v. Shipp
* Vendetta (1999 film)
* Wilmington insurrection of 1898

Categories|

* Lynching in the United States
* Lynching deaths in the United States

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