United States v. Dallas County, Civ. A. No. 3064-63.

• Decision Date: 19 March 1964
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 3064-63.
• Citation: 229 F. Supp. 1014
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. DALLAS COUNTY, James G. Clarke, Jr., Sheriff of Dallas County, Alabama, Blanchard McLeod, Circuit Solicitor of the Fourth Judicial District of Alabama, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Alabama

229 F. Supp. 1014

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. DALLAS COUNTY, James G. Clarke, Jr., Sheriff of Dallas County, Alabama, Blanchard McLeod, Circuit Solicitor of the Fourth Judicial District of Alabama, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 3064-63.

United States District Court S. D. Alabama, N. D.

March 19, 1964.

Burke Marshall, Asst. Atty. Gen., Washington, D. C., Vernol R. Jansen, Jr., U. S. Atty., Mobile, Ala., John Doar, Atty., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for plaintiff.

Richmond M. Flowers, Atty. Gen. of Alabama, Gordon Madison, Asst. Atty. Gen., Montgomery, Ala., Thomas G. Gayle, W. McLean Pitts, Selma, Ala., for defendants.

THOMAS, District Judge.

This suit is brought under authority of Title 42 U.S.C. § 1971(a), (b) and (c) against Dallas County, Alabama, and the above-named officials. The complaint prays that this Court issue a preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining the defendants, their agents, servants, employees and all persons in active concert or participation with them from:

(a) Intimidating, threatening, coercing, or attempting to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person for the purpose of interfering with the right of that person or any other person to become registered to vote and vote in Dallas County, Alabama, for candidates for federal office, or punishing any person for having registered or attempted to register to vote and vote for any such candidate;

(b) Striking, threatening to strike, arresting, threatening to arrest, holding in custody, prosecuting or attempting to prosecute any person in the Courts of the State of Alabama for the purpose of interfering with the right of any Negro citizen to become registered or to vote in Dallas County and to vote for candidates for federal office, or for punishment for having previously registered or voted, or engaging in any act or practice which would deprive any Negro citizen of Dallas County, Alabama, of any such right or privilege;

(c) Proceeding with the prosecution, failing to return the bond monies or release the sureties on the bond in connection with the prosecution of Bosie Reese in the courts of the State of Alabama on the charges for which he was arrested on June 17, 1963.

The matter was first brought before this Court on a petition for an ex parte restraining order, covering relief sought in (c) above and filed with this Court in Mobile on June 26, 1963, at 5:25 p. m., which application this Court denied. That action was reviewed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on the same evening at 9:00 p. m., in Montgomery, Alabama, and upheld on June 27, 1963. In brief, counsel for defendants state that at that hearing, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals pointed out that this case was distinguishable in several respects from that of United States v. Wood, 295 F.2d 772 (1961), on which plaintiff's counsel at that time relied.

The cause was set for hearing at Selma, Alabama, on July 25, 1963, on plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction covering relief sought in paragraphs (a), (b), and (c) above. Motions of defendants to dismiss were heard at the same time. Evidence was introduced by the Government as well as by the defendants. As the Court was unable to devote more than one day to the hearing at that particular time, the case was recessed in order to give the Government an opportunity to cross-examine the affiants who had testified in affidavit form for the defendants; and also in order that the Government might introduce rebuttal testimony.

The hearing was duly set to be reconvened on October 3, 1963. However, due to a condition of unrest then existing in Selma and Dallas County generally, the Court by order dated September 30, 1963, good cause appearing therefor, continued the October 3rd hearing for resetting at a later date. Counsel for the Government, deciding that the Court had abused its discretion, on the 8th of October 1963, filed a petition for writ of mandamus to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. This petition was subsequently dismissed as moot, at the request of the Government, inasmuch as at the time of the service of the notice of mandamus on the District Court, the Court had already made its plans to re-set the hearing in Selma for October 15, 1963.

At the conclusion of the hearing on that date, the Government moved for a dismissal as to the defendant Henry Reese on the ground that there was no evidence against him. Counsel for the Government should have made a similar motion as to each of the other defendants, but did not see fit to do so. After careful consideration of the evidence, the Court finds no evidence against any of these defendants to justify or even to suggest that they should be enjoined.

The Government bases its request for an injunction on five allegedly wrongful acts committed by the defendants and/or their agents. These five acts are as follows:

1. Attendance of the Sheriff and the Prosecuting Attorney and their agents at a mass meeting held in Selma on May 14, 1963.

2. The same acts at a mass meeting held in Selma, June 17, 1963.

3. The arrest by Sheriff Clarke of Bosie Reese on the afternoon of June 17, 1963.

4. The arrest of Bernard Lafayette on June 18, 1963.

5. The arrest of Alexander L. Love, alias Brown, on July 22, 1963.

As to the mass meeting on May 14, 1963, the Sheriff and others testified that there was a general feeling of unrest in Selma about that time; and learning of the proposed mass meeting, he felt it his duty as principal law enforcement officer of the county to be in attendance at the meeting. He and some of his deputies accordingly attended the meeting. No arrests were made, no demonstrations took place, several cars containing white men and bearing license tags from counties other than Dallas were turned away from the immediate vicinity of the meeting.

As to the mass meeting of June 17, 1963, the Sheriff's participation was subtantially the same as that of the meeting of May 14, 1963.

The evaluation of a set of facts by one individual might not comport with the evaluation of the same facts made by another. The correct evaluation may best be made by one who has lived in and is familiar with the environment wherein the evaluation is to be made. The proper evaluation of a situation involving the clash of divergent ideas in the process of being resolved according to relatively recent judicial pronouncements necessitates sound, thorough and temperate thinking. In order to evaluate properly Sheriff Clarke's action, some knowledge of the problems with which he was confronted is necessary. Dallas County is a rural county in southwest Alabama; and as shown by the complaint, its population is almost evenly divided between white and colored, there being few more colored than white.

Unfortunately, for a number...