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Essay On Tom Robinson Trial

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Tom Robinson Found Guilty Last weekend, despite his lawyer’s attempts, Tom Robinson was found guilty of taking advantage of Mayella Ewell. Robinson was accused by Robert Ewell of raping and beating his daughter Mayella Ewell. Robinson is a Negro and lives by the town dump with his wife and children.The witnesses called to the stand were Heck Tate, the county sheriff, and Bob and Mayella Ewell. Tate’s testimony was that he was called by Ewell on the night of November twenty-first. He found Mayella lying on the floor in the front room, beat up. He asked her if Robinson had beat her up like that, and she said yes. He told Finch that when he took her down to the Robinson house, she identified him as the one that beat her up, so he took him …show more content…

He said there were bruises on her arms and on the right side of her face, including her eye. Finch asked him if there were any other injuries, and Tate answered that there were finger marks all around her neck. This was the end of his testimony, and the judge called up Bob Ewell to testify. Horace Gilmer, the prosecutor, asked Ewell what he was doing the night of the twenty-first. Ewell replied that just before sundown, he had come from the woods with kindling and heard Mayella screaming inside the house. He ran up to the window and he claimed that he saw Robinson taking advantage of his daughter. He ran around the house to get in, and Robinson was already running out. He ran for the sheriff as quick as he could. Finch asked if he could ask him a few questions. He asked if he had called for a doctor, if he was concerned with his daughter’s physical condition. …show more content…

Mayella replied that there was, and told him to step on a chair to get a box from the top of a chifforobe. He did as she said, and got up onto the chair. He claimed she grabbed him around the legs, scared him so hard that he hopped down from the chair, and jumped on him. Robinson’s lawyer asked him if she jumped on him violently. Robinson denied it, and told him that she hadn’t. She had hugged him around the waist. He then went on to narrate what happened next. “She reached up an’ kissed me ‘side of the’ face. She says she never kissed a grown man before an’ she might as well kiss a nigger. She says what her papa do to her don’t count. She says, ‘Kiss me back, nigger.’” And that he had tried to run, and didn’t want to hurt her, and heard Ewell yelling through the

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Tate also did not thoroughly explore the possibility of Bob Ewell not killing himself on his own and did not know for sure that it was Bob Ewell who brought the knife to the scene where Jem and Scout were attacked. Mr. Tate was fine with taking “the easy way out” and just letting the dead bury the dead (Lee 317). Sheriff Heck Tate is guilty of laziness and lack of logical thinking skills. Members of the jury, the defense, may claim that Sheriff Heck Tate had no reason to call a doctor because Mayella seemed fine and did not have any specific life-threatening injuries. However, since Mayella claimed to have been raped, it would only have been proper to call a doctor and figure out if she actually had been raped.

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“Let’s see,” he said softly, then he looked at Atticus as if he considered the question childish “Can’t you remember?” Atticus asked Mr. Tate pointed to an invisible person five inches in front of him and said ”Her left. ”.(Lee191-192) Showing that Heck had not remembered or documented the domestic abuse that Mayella had received only knowing the basics of her beating. Heck could not tell the court about where the bruising was without confidence.

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This day August 26,1935 Tom Robinson was convicted of raping Mayella Ewell. She is a local Maycomb resident. However most of the “facts” in the case don’t make much sense,with the lack of evidence Tom Robinson could possibly be innocent. So what evidence presented did not add up the The first piece of evidence came from Sheriff Heck Tate Who said that Mayella’s

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He instills fear in Mayella, therefore she feels obligated to lie during the court trial, blaming Tom Robinson for raping and choking her, causing the bruises along her neck and face. Mayella stutters when being interrogated by Atticus, almost revealing a sliver of truth when she says, “No I don’t recollect if he hit me. I mean yes I do, he hit me” (Lee 248). This proves to Atticus and those viewing the trial that Mayella is indeed untruthful and nervous to deliver answers with her father overseeing her. Because she was present for the court trial, Scout Finch learns that Bob Ewell is guilty, especially after Atticus reveals that Bob is left handed.

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When it is time for the trial to take place, Atticus forbids the kids from coming to it. This does not stop the children, however, as they show up and sit in the colored balcony with Calpurnia's, (the maid) pastor, Reverend Sykes. During the trial, Atticus demines the Ewell's credibility by proving that they are lying. During Tom's testimony, Atticus shows that Mayella was the one that advanced on Tom, and when Bob Ewell found this, he beat her. Atticus shows this through a few ways: First, he asks Tom Robinson to stand up and it is obvious that he could not have done it to Mayella; his left arm is a lot shorter than his right arm.

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The outcome of Tom Robinson’s trial was most certainly unfair and based on the racism in Maycomb. There was a plethora of evidence that he was not guilty in any way. There were marks of two hands’ fingers around Mayella Ewell’s neck, bruises that were mostly concentrated on the right side of her face (meaning that the attacker would be left handed as Bob Ewell was, and Tom had a crippled left arm), and the changing stories told by the each of the Ewells. As Atticus, the man defending Tom, makes his closing statement, he remarks on all of the evidence against the Ewells, and states that if Thomas Jefferson was correct, all men are equal; so, Tom Robinson should be parallel to Robert E. Lee Ewell, especially in the court. When the verdict is

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In the events of the trials, Mayella Ewell states that she was a victim to choking, beating, and rape. She accuses Tom Robinson of the crime, and eventually leaves the witness stand in hatred and

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ISSUE Bob Ewell was making false accusations EVIDENCE The first piece of evidence is (Lee 192)when Sheriff Heck Tate describes the injuries of Mayella Ewell along with the damage to their house. The second piece of evidence (Lee 199) is that when Atticus questions Bob Ewell about not getting a doctor when he ran to get sherif Tate. The third piece of evidence (Lee 200) is when Bob Ewell agrees with Mr.Tate description of the injuries and damages.

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She takes tom robinson into a room and the“She reached up an‘ kissed me ’side of th‘ face. She says ‘she never kissed a grown man before an’ she might as well kiss a nigger. She says what her papa do to her don’t count. She says, ‘Kiss me back, nigger.’ I say Miss

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Then some people thought that Tom was innocent but the judge decided to make Tom go to prison. In the book it said that Mayella hugged and kissed Tom on the cheek. From this I can infer that Mayella is desperate and can get away with this because Tom Robinson is a black person. This reminds me of a couple southern movies I’ve watched where black people are always the first to suspect because of their color. Tom Robinson on trial for his life said Bob Ewell yelled “whore I’ll kill you” when he saw Mayella kiss Tom from the window.

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In the 1930’s, in Maycomb, Alabama a small town is alerted with rape charges, from Mayella, who an African American, Tom Robinson is guilty for. Tom Robinson is not as powerful as he thinks when he takes the stand to plead not guilty, is he really?Mayella does take the stand and plead not guilty, Harper Lee’s, To Kill A Mockingbird, tells us that her class, race, and gender find her not guilty. In general,... ”White people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs;Ewells negro neighbors wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she was white”("DBQ: IS Mayella Powerful?" 21)…

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There are various themes in the book To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM) by Harper Lee. What stuck out was “Don’t spread lies”. This is my claim because people were spreading rumors about Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley who were both very important characters. The people in this story said Tom had raped Mayella. The people were telling stories about Boo that he had gone to jail when he was little, which caused many people in the town to be afraid of him.

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In “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, Scout Finch was the main character and the narrator of the story. She was an extremely curious young girl and definitely did not allow people to push her around. Scout was outspoken and rambunctious. Her real name was Jean Louise Finch, but always went by the name Scout. She learned many lessons from people in her town, whether it had been through personal conflicts or watching bad things happen to other people.

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I believe this shows the miscommunication of the story they conjured up together. Robinson's lawyer, Atticus Finch, pulled apart their stories to prove that Robinson was innocent. The Jury was oblivious and that led to an undeserving

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The Ewells could have been lying because most likely Mayella tempted Tom. Back then if you were involved with a colored person you were disgraced by the whole town. Mayella could have been trying to cover this up and get Tom arrested so he wouldn't be able to tell anyone. The jury convicted Tom Robinson because he was colored and back then white people believed they had to stick together against the colored people. This shows that based on the evidence Tom Robinson was only convicted because of his skin color.

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