To Kill a Mockingbird
In the movie, To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson was convicted of rape purely based on, Mayella Ewell, the alleged victim’s testimony. The evidence was purely circumstantial and was not sufficient to convict Tom Robinson of rape.
Tom Robinson, a black man, was found kissing Mayella Ewell, a white woman. To absolve herself of the shame of having relations with a black man, Mayella said that Tom had raped her. Mayella testified that Tom choked her and beat her. She said that she turned around and Tom was there. In court, Atticus Finch, Tom’s lawyer, demonstrated to the court that Tom could not have choked and beaten Mayella because the muscles in Tom’s left hand were not working because of an injury he had when he was 12 years old.
When Mayella realized that the lie was not holding water, she told the court that she would say only one thing and be silent. She said that Tom took advantage of her then threw a tantrum in court.
In Taylor v Commonwealth, it was held that in rape cases, intent may be shown by circumstantial evidence. Existence of the intent cannot be based upon surmise or speculation. The evidence that was adduced by the prosecution was purely based on speculation and was not sufficient to convict Tom of raping Mayella. The prosecution did not produce any medical evidence to prove that Tom raped Mayella.
Tom was not given a jury of his peers. The jury was composed of 12 white men. This was a violation of Tom’s constitutionally guaranteed rights under the 6th and 14th Amendments. To ensure fairness of the process, the jury ought to have been selected from a cross section of the community. A person of African American descent should have been part of the jury. It is possible that the verdict issued by the jury was issued out of prejudice against Tom as a black man, and not out of justice after analyzing the facts and the evidence.
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