Word: sams
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Sam's most celebrated triumph as a lawyer was his defense of the "Scottsboro boys"-nine Negro youths accused of raping two hoboing white women in a railroad freight car near Scottsboro, Ala. An Alabama court sentenced eight of the boys to death and the ninth to life imprisonment. In proceedings that lasted from 1933 to 1937, Leibowitz, serving without fee, won a reversal from the U.S. Supreme Court, succeeded in establishing the legal principle that a Negro cannot be assured a fair trial in a community where Negroes are systematically excluded from jury service...
...newspaper interview in which he described the jury members as "bigots whose mouths are slits in their faces, whose eyes pop out at you like frogs, whose chins drip tobacco juice, bewhiskered and filthy." The Alabama judge used the published statement as an excuse to postpone the trials. Sam Leibowitz was already sounding off in the free-wheeling manner which would later get him into continuing trouble on the bench...
Eliminating the Snake. When Lawyer Leibowitz ran as the Democratic candidate for a Brooklyn county-court judgeship in 1940, his opponents warned that a defender of criminals would surely be soft on criminals before the bar. As if in answer, the new judge acquired the nickname "Sentencing Sam." "Once a criminal has the handcuffs on him, he knows it's not going to be a picnic in Kings County Court today," said Leibowitz. He was especially tough on criminals with previous arrests on their records. "I eliminate a poisonous snake from the community...
Over the years complaints piled up about Leibowitz's court, and in one way or another, most of the grumblings reflected the same trait that got Sam into needless trouble in Alabama: he simply could not help putting his opinions and emotions loudly on the line. In the courtroom he referred to an accused criminal as a "rat" or an "animal." Occasionally he broke into a purple tirade. When a big-time gambler who had talked freely to a grand jury later clammed up in court, Leibowitz roared: "I'll give you a thousand years, if necessary...
...Mighty Arm. The record that bothers the Bar Association committee so much has been a long time in the making. But despite all the contention, and all the criticisms, when the judicial board hands down its decision, it will probably rule for Sentencing Sam. The New York State Association of Trial Lawyers, familiar enough with the lash of the Leibowitz tongue, declares that his "wisdom, courage and ability to maintain decorum in his courtroom have not diminished with the years." Judge Leibowitz, says a lawyer who has been one of his severest critics, "guards against unjust acquittal as well...