State troopers, Klansmen, and other white observers at the city limits of Cullman, Alabama, awaiting the arrival of a march organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to protest the upcoming trial of Tommy Lee Hines.

Hines, a 26-year old man who was said to have the mind of a 6-year-old child, had been charged with raping three white women in Decatur. Because his lawyer argued that he could not get a fair trial in Morgan County, it was moved to Cullman, where an all-white jury convicted him of one rape and sente...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jones
Format: Electronic
Published: Alabama Department of Archives and History
Subjects:
Online Access:http://cdm17217.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/amg/id/124759
Description
Summary:Hines, a 26-year old man who was said to have the mind of a 6-year-old child, had been charged with raping three white women in Decatur. Because his lawyer argued that he could not get a fair trial in Morgan County, it was moved to Cullman, where an all-white jury convicted him of one rape and sentenced him to thirty years in prison. Two years later, a different jury found him mentally incompetent to stand trial, and he was transferred to Partlow State School and Hospital in Tuscaloosa, where he stayed for more than a decade.