This tag was created by Anonymous. 

Harlem in Disorder: A Spatial History of How Racial Violence Changed in 1935

In the grand jury, March 29-June 10

Twenty-two cases were presented to the grand jury after March 27, with the last case involving an individual arrested during the disorder decided on April 23. They voted charges in all twenty cases involving individuals arrested during the disorder, but only one indictment that sent a defendant for trial in the Court of General Sessions. In all the other cases they voted informations, sending the defendants for trial on lesser misdemeanor charges in the Court of Special Sessions. That was a far higher proportion of informations than in the cases presented in the first week after the disorder. That disparity could be the result of time passing since the disorder, making the actions presented to the grand jury appear less threatening. It could also have been that the cases presented later, after longer periods of investigation, were those in which prosecutors had more difficulty gathering evidence to support charges.

The other two cases presented to the grand jury involved the same police officer, Patrolman John McInerney, who had shot and killed Lloyd Hobbs, a sixteen-year-old Black boy, during the disorder. He was the only police officer prosecuted as a result of the disorder. The grand jury heard evidence about the shooting for the first time on April 10, voting to dismiss the case. The case was resubmitted to the grand jury on June 10, after additional witnesses testified at a public hearing of the MCCH. The all-white grand jury again voted to dismiss the case.

This page has tags:

Contents of this tag: