The Guilty And Trial Of Celia's Murder

Sometime around 1820 the Newsom family moved to Callaway County located in middle Missouri. Around 1850 Robert Newsom had acquired around 800 acres of land and various lives amounts of livestock. He also owned male slaves which was common at the time. In the summer of 1850 Robert purchased another slave, a fourteen-year-old girl name Celia. Over the next five years Robert would continuously sexually assault and rape Celia. Finally, on June 23, 1855 Celia killed Robert in self-defense after he tried to rape her again. On October 10, 1855 a jury found Celia guilty of murder in the first degree and was eventually hung on December 21, 1855. Within the investigation and trial of Celia there are several things that made her trial unjust and therefore warrant her pardon.

While being questioned about what happened to Newsom she was questioned for a prolonged period of time and the safety of her children was threatened. This coercion eventually led to her confessing to the murder of Newsom. Once the trial began a jury was selected and the jury consisted of white males. The first witness, Jefferson Jones, was asked about Celia’s intent when the incident occurred, and he said that she meant only to hurt Newsom not to kill him. Multiple witnesses also testified that Celia came and asked for family members to intervene and stop Newsom from raping her. Coffee Waynescot also testified that Celia’s attack on Newsom came from desperation and that she only intended to hurt Ransom not kill him. During the questioning of a witness the defense used a line of questioning that proposed Celia was acting in self-defense, but objections quickly shot down any attempt to persuade the jury of