Anthony Magliaro
1/15/10
History Vaknin
I. The Sweets Trials
A. Defendants
There were multiple Sweets Trials. They include The People of Michigan v. Ossian Sweet and The People of Michigan v. Henry Sweet. The defendant of the case The People of Michigan v. Ossian Sweet was Ossian Sweet and the ten other people in the Sweet’s house at the time of the riot. The defendants of The People of Michigan v. Henry Sweet have the same defendants, Ossian, Henry and the other Sweets and were defended by Clarence Darrow.
B. Charges
The charges against the Sweets were the murder of Leon Breiner and conspiracy to commit murder.
C. Major Arguments of the Prosecution
One major argument against the Sweets that they had killed Leon Breiner and were conspiring to commit more murders. The Prosecution team, especially Robert Toms, attempted to reinforce the idea that the trial wasn’t about solving the racial issues of the country, but about punishing those guilty of killing an innocent man. Yet he subtly kept hinting at the fact to the all white jury.
D. Major Arguments of the Defense
The major arguments of the defense of the Sweets and Darrow that every citizen has the right to protect his or her home and property and the prosecution team attempted to prove that everyone inside the Sweet home that night were the aggressors, and that by their actions an innocent person was deliberately killed and another wounded.
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E. Decision
The decision was a long drawn out decision for after 46 hours of deliberation, the jury says it is unable to reach a verdict. Judge Murphy finally declares a mistrial and dismisses the jury in November of 1925. In May of 1926 the jury finally makes a decision as the Sweets are found Not Guilty. After they are found Not Guilty, Breiner’s widow sues Sweet for $150,000, claiming he wrongfully caused the death of her husband. The case goes nowhere as it is eventually dismissed.
G. Guilty or Innocent?
I believe that the defendants are rightly found Not Guilty. I see it as the Sweets were, as Darrow stated, justly defending their property from aggressors and had every right to protect their land. The men that attacked the Sweets were wrongly inciting and instigating the Sweets.
II. What does Trial say about:
D. Modernity
I think you could argue that this case had an underlying theme of modernity. The whites couldn’t accept that times were changing where blacks were coming to the terms of evenness with whites. They couldn’t accept the growing modernity in their society where blacks actually had a role. That is why they attacked the Sweets after the Sweets moved into a predominantly, if not all, white community.
F. Intolerance of blacks
The most prevalent theme throughout the Sweets Trials is the intolerance of blacks in the white community. The KKK is powerful at this time and that increases black hatred. The riot outside the Sweets house came several months after Dr. Alexander Turner and John Fletcher were forced from their house from all white riots. The Sweets Trials showed that intolerance in the form of blind hatred.
III. What does this case reveal about the social tensions in the 1920s? What is the larger significance of the case?
The Sweet trials revealed the growing racial tension in cities following World War I. The larger significance of this case is how big of an issue the race issue was. The Sweets had moved into an all white neighborhood thinking they would be accepted by the community because they thought times were changing. This case showed how times were changing because the court ruled in favor of the Sweets.
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Works Cited
Linder, Douglas, comp. “The Sweets Trials: An Account.” Famous American Trials.
N.p., 2000. Web. 12 Jan. 2010. .
Melton, Buckner. “Sweet Trials: 1925-26.” Great American Trials. 2002. Thomson Learning. GreatAmericanTrials.com. 19 Jan. 2010
University of Detroit Mercy A Catholic University in the Jesuit & Mercy
Traditions, comp. “The Sweet Trials.” Malice Afterthought: The Sweet
Trials. Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, n.d. Web.
12 Jan. 2010. .
