Cooper’s Startling Statements Before Supreme Court Today
Atlanta, Ga., Oct 17.—”If these defendants are hanged, they will have been mobbed in the name of the law,” was the startling declaration made yesterday by Attorney John R. Cooper, of Macon, counsel for the Rawlings’—father and two sons—sentenced to death for the murder of the Carter children in Lowndes County.
Mr. Cooper appeared before the Supreme Court of Georgia and began his arguments before that high tribunal for a new trial for his three clients, also a change of venue.
“Those men were not given a fair trial in Lowndes County,” he continued, “nor can they get one there. The horror of the crime committed there has poisoned the minds of the people against these three people whom I believe to be innocent.
“If they are hanged, they will have been mobbed in the name of the law.”
Mr. Cooper had only begun his first speech in the six cases before the court when the body adjourned for the day’s session. He took up his argument again the first thing this morning.
This is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, criminal cases ever brought before this court. J. G. Rawlings and his two sons, Jesse Rawlings and Milton Rawlings, were convicted of the murder of the two Carter children—almost babes in arms—in the early summer, and are under sentence to be hanged, pending the decision of the court of last resort.
Attorney General Hart, who has charge of the prosecution of the case in this court, said last week, while reading the brief of the evidence, that it was the most atrocious crime of which he had ever read. General Hart is in Washington today, where he is appearing before the Supreme Court of the United States, but before he left he filed with the court a brief. Solicitor General W. E. Thomas, of the southern circuit, who secured the convictions, is in the city and also is prosecuting the case.
The record filed in court in these three cases is the largest on record. It contains 1,000 pages of legal cap paper and over 350,000 words. Cooper’s brief on the law in case covers 100 pages.
Mr. Cooper has stated that his three clients will never hang, “I know those boys are innocent,” he said, “and I believe that the father is, too. He had nothing against those Carter children. He did not like old man Carter, but he had nothing against the children. I hope, if those three are hanged, they will have been mobbed in the eyes of the law.”