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Tom Robinson Trial Essay

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In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, we are told of the trial of Tom Robinson from the perspective of the main character, Scout. Scout lived in Maycomb County with her brother, Jem, and her father, Atticus. Tom Robinson went to trial against the Ewell family, being accused for allegedly raping Mayella Ewell, and Atticus is appointed by Judge Taylor to defend him during the trial. The Ewell family were well known throughout Maycomb County, they lived in a small, secluded junkyard and were poor. To see whether Tom Robinson is guilty of the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, his trial consists of the testimonies from Sheriff Tate, Bob and Mayella Ewell, and Tom Robinson himself, as well as Atticus’s closing argument. The trial began with Sheriff Tate recounting the events of the assault, explaining how Bob Ewell called him to catch the colored man that raped Mayella. …show more content…

When Atticus asks Tate questions, the first question he asks is why did they not call for a doctor? Atticus repeatedly asked questions about her injuries, and he confirmed that she had a black eye on the right side of her face, which made it more likely that a left-handed person had hit her, and had finger marks around her entire neck. After Atticus finished his questioning with Sheriff Tate, Bob Ewell was then called to the stand. Bob explained how he first heard Mayella's screams while in the woods, and when he ran to the house he explained how he saw Tom Robinson on top of Mayella. By the time he reached inside the house, Tom had already run out the door. When Atticus had his turn to ask Bob questions again, his first question was the same,

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Opening Statement for Sheriff Heck Tate Good afternoon, my name is Madelyn Kessler, and it is my honor to represent Maycomb County in proving a man guilty of poor investigation and documentation. The defendant was called to the Ewell residence on November 21st and found Mayella Ewell beaten up and hurt. Later the defendant was also called to the scene where Bob Ewell was found dead underneath a tree. There, Mr. Heck Tate failed to find complete evidence that Bob Ewell had killed himself.

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During both cases, Atticus and Mr. Davis both try to persuade the jury members using logos. Mayella had bruises and marks from being hit with a left hand. Due to all the facts Atticus gave, there is a clear and valid reason that it could have been Mr. Ewell. Mayella was beaten badly by someone exclusively with his left hand. During the trial Atticus asked both Mr. Ewell and Tom to sign a piece of paper.

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He proceeded to investigate with his own personal biases, thus causing the situation to escalate. These poor investigating skills lead to Mr Tate also being at fault for the eventual death of Tom Robinson. Furthermore, from the trial, Heck Tate said that Mayella was badly beaten up and blames it on Tom. Heck Tate also explains that Mayella fainted at the scene. However, they failed to provide a doctor to examine her health and prove that she was actually raped by Tom Robinson.

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Good afternoon, my name is Katlyn Gotvald, and it's my pleasure to represent Maycomb County and to serve as a prosecutor in this important case. On December 9, 1932, Mr. Bob Ewell was called to court to testify for his daughter Mayella Ewell. Miss Ewell accused a black man of rape. Both of the Ewells knew this man from walking by their house on the way to work. He lay on the stand under his oath.

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Heck Tate was the first of the witnesses to step up and give their testimony. He described to Atticus Finch about how after see Mayella bruised and beaten on the floor, the first thing he did was to take her to identify Tom Robinson. Following this, no doctor had come to check on Mayella, despite her serious injuries and multiple wounds. On page 190 of To Kill a Mockingbird, it reads “Did you call a doctor, Sheriff? Did anybody call a doctor.

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Since Mayella was punched on the right side of her face, it meant the abuser was left-handed. Furthermore, Tom Robinson lacks the ability to lead with his left hand because he does not possess a left hand. This also disproves Mayella’s claim that Tom Robinson had choked her with both hands. Atticus is intelligent in figuring out the fact that Mr. Ewell was left-handed because it gave the court spectators a reason to believe the real criminal was Bob Ewell. Atticus continues to defend Tom Robinson’s innocence by finding evidence to prove Bob Ewell was guilty.

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100) Scout soon learns that Bob Ewell is the prosecutor in the case. In chapter 18, Atticus proves that Bob was actually the person who beat up mayella. It takes an enormous amount of courage to beat you daughter and then blame it on someone else. At first, he said Tom assaulted her, but then changed the charge to rape.

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In chapter 18 of To Kill a Mockingbird, Mayella Ewell is on the stand in the Tom Robinson versus Mayella Ewell case. Atticus begins by asking Mayella about the night of the supposed rape, but is shut down by the fearful cries of Mayella, who claims Atticus is scaring her. Eventually, Mayella responds with her side of the story, claiming Tom Robinson attacked and took advantage of her until the details became hazy and she passed out. Next thing she knew, Bob Ewell was standing over her asking who had done it.

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In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the story is set in the 1900’s, Maycomb, Alabama. During this time there was racism in the south and segregation which separated the whites and blacks from everything. There was also the Great Depression, the whole country was poor and people living in the country had to trade and do other jobs for people to either pay them off or to buy something from them. The trial in this book is about Mayella and Bob Ewell, two white people, claiming and arguing that Tom Robinson, a black person, raped Mayella Ewell. This trial is really important because at that time in the south, white people took advantage of black people and their kindness and thought they would take that or shut up just because they were black.

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He states that Bob Ewell retrieved him on November twenty-first because an African American raped Mayella. When he arrived at the scene of disarray, Mayella was beaten and bruised with right eye blackened. She identified Tom Robinson as the culprit. The next person to testify was Bob Ewell, Mayella’s father. Bob claimed that when he came back

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Tom was accused of raping a white woman who was Mayella Ewell, Mayella said he raped her while he was helping her with chores. She later on tells the readers that it was false allegations. The reason why she didn 't tell the truth at her first trial was because, Mayella was afraid of being embarrassed because she kissed a black male. She rather have an innocent man get charged with a crime than that. “However, Robinson was transferred from the state prison to Maycomb 's county jail on Saturday, two days before he stood trial on Monday, and Atticus had to defend him against a lynch mob”.

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We don’t know. But there is substantial circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left.” In this quote Atticus is referring to how he proved Mayella was attacked by someone who was left handed, since most of the injuries to her face were located on its right side. Atticus had Bob Ewell write his name on a piece of paper on the premise that it would prove his literacy to the court, but Atticus’s true motive for having Bob write his name was for him to prove that he is left handed to the jury. It is believed by default that Mr. Ewell is not the perpetrator of the crime against his daughter, but Atticus proved that in fact it probably was Mr. Ewell that attacked his daughter, and not Tom Robinson, dispelling what was believed to be the truth and revealing the reality of the

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Mr. Ewell said he saw Tom rape his daughter from outside of one of the windows. Then Atticus calls up Mayella Ewell. She claimed that She did not know That Tom was in her house. She also said that she does not remember all that took place that evening. Lastly, Atticus calls Tom Robinson to the stand.

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Just before the jury casts its vote to convict Tom or not, Atticus tells the jury, “The defendant is not guilty, but someone in this courtroom is” (Lee 271). This shows that Tom is accused as guilty of raping Mayella because of all the people on the jury are on the white

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Tom on the other hand is calm the whole time, his story stays the same, and he does not point fingers blamming Mayella. The case starts to appear as Bob Ewell was the one who really beat her up. Unfortunately, the result of the trial ends with Tom losing because of him being black and lack of evidence. Last, Bob Ewell was very upset with Atticus for “outing

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