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Arizona Sun
Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona
What is this article about?
Justice Harold H. Burton of the U.S. Supreme Court grants a stay of execution to Willie McGee, a 37-year-old Black man convicted three times for the alleged 1945 rape of a white woman in Laurel, Mississippi, hours before his scheduled electrocution on July 27. The stay allows time for a petition for review amid allegations of due process violations and mob hysteria.
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Washington, D. C. (NNPA)
Mob hysteria surrounds the entire Willie McGee case in Mississippi, according to one of the lawyers fighting to save him from the electric chair for the alleged rape of a white woman at Laurel, Mississippi, in November, 1945.
Twelve hours before his scheduled execution in Mississippi, McGee was granted a stay of execution by Justice Harold H. Burton of the United States Supreme Court. McGee was scheduled to go to the electric chair at 12:01 a.m., July 27.
In granting the stay of execution, Justice Burton explained that he was not criticizing any court but he felt that "justice can best be served by granting a stay."
The 37-year old McGee has been convicted three times by Mississippi courts. His first conviction was reversed by the Mississippi Supreme Court on the ground that it was prejudicial error for the trial judge not to have transferred the trial from Forest County because of the spirit of mob violence and passion which surrounded the case.
The second conviction was reversed by the same court because of a finding that colored persons had been systematically excluded from jury duty in the county adjoining Forest County, where the second trial was held.
McGee's third conviction was affirmed by the Mississippi Supreme Court, and the United States Supreme Court refused to review the judgment of conviction.
A petition for a stay of execution was filed in the United States Supreme Court last Wednesday, after Governor Fielding L. Wright of Mississippi had refused to grant executive clemency.
The petition filed in the high tribunal here alleged that McGee was convicted without due process of law, that intimidation of his lawyer resulted in the convicted man being deprived of the effective assistance of counsel, and thus the conviction was obtained through the use of perjured testimony.
The stay of execution granted by Justice Burton will remain in effect until the court passes on a petition for review of the case.
Lawyers for McGee have ninety days in which to file such a petition.
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Domestic News Details
Primary Location
Mississippi
Event Date
July 27 (Scheduled Execution); November 1945 (Alleged Incident)
Key Persons
Outcome
stay of execution granted by u.s. supreme court justice harold h. burton, effective until petition for review is decided; lawyers have 90 days to file petition; prior convictions reversed twice, third affirmed.
Event Details
Willie McGee, convicted three times for alleged rape of a white woman in Laurel, Mississippi, in November 1945, received a stay of execution twelve hours before his scheduled electrocution on July 27. The stay was granted by Justice Harold H. Burton, who stated justice would be best served by it. The case involved mob hysteria, systematic exclusion of Black jurors, and allegations of due process violations, intimidation of counsel, and perjured testimony. Governor Wright denied clemency.