Powell v. Alabama

Powell and eight other young, illiterate Black defendants (defendants) were charged with raping two white women; the trial judge blocked their contact with out-of-state family who might have helped secure counsel, instead vaguely appointing "all members of the bar" for arraignment, and only on the morning of trial -- six days after the charges -- did two attorneys volunteer to actually represent all nine men. Three one-day trials followed, ending in convictions and death sentences for all defendants, and their appeals were denied at the state level.