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David Reeder

Ms. Weaver

LNG 312

29 March 2011

Infinitesimal Evidence with Guilt

Even though the Constitution states that every man is equal under the law, this is not true.
People are often prejudiced and discriminated against during a trial. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a
Mockingbird, she tells a story of a young girl growing up in a time of racism and hatred. Scout’s
father, Atticus, is asked to defend a black man in a rape trial, and he tries his best. Ultimately,
Tom Robinson is convicted and sent to prison, all because the color of his skin. Based on the
events in To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee does not believe that all men are equal under the
law. This is shown in the novel when Tom Robinson gets convicted; when he is actually
innocent. Tom Robinson should not have been convicted because there was a lack of evidence
against him, untrustworthy witnesses, and the evidence ruled in his favor. This was a case based
on skin color, prejudice, and discrimination.

The first problem that made this conviction unfair was the lack of evidence against Tom.
If Tom Robinson did commit the crime, then Mr. Ewell should have called a doctor. Mr. Tom
Robinson was an honorable person whose only crime was feeling sorry for a lonely white
woman. There was no evidence to collaborate Mr. Ewell’s story that Mayella had been raped,
except the testimony of Sheriff Tate. Sherriff Tate claimed he arrived at the scene and Mayella
had been badly beaten, but he did not even call a doctor to confirm that she had been raped.
Atticus asked, “did you call a doctor, Sheriff? Did anyone call a doctor?” Heck Tate’s response
to the cross-examination was: “no sir”. This only goes to show that because the accused man was
black, the Sheriff did not feel he would need an actual doctor’s examination to have the man
found guilty of raping Mayella. This shows that all men are not equal under the court system
because of it would have been a white man accused of raping her; a doctor would have been
called immediately.

Another reason why Tom Robinson deserved an appeal was that the other two witness’s
stories contradicted one another with the defendant’s testimony. He said he had known Mayella
Ewell for a while because he had to pass by the Ewell’s house every day to go to work for Mr.
Link Deas. Based on his statements, he said that he had gone into the house to help Mayella to
fix or help her out “lots of times”. He did work like chopping and kindling for Mayella. She
offered him a nickel, but he declined. Apparently, Mayella asked him to fix the door hinges as
she said it was loose. When Tom was at work, Mayella kissed and hugged him. The children,
usually in the house, went to eat ice cream bought by Mayella; were not present. This totally
contradicts Mayella and her father’s side of the story. Next, Mr. Bob Ewell saw this from the
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window, spouted vulgarities at Mayella, saying he would kill her. This proves that there was
evidence clearly in Tom Robinson’s favor.

Lastly, there was evidence in Tom’s favor that should not have been ignored by the jury,
but was. Atticus proved to the jury that it was a left-handed man who hit Mayella and beat her;
“if her right eye was blackened and she was beaten mostly on the right side of the face, it would
tend to show that a left-handed person did it”. This goes to help Atticus’ defense of Tom
Robinson because Tom had a bad accident while working, and it rendered him partially crippled:
“he looked oddly off balance, but it was not from the way he was standing. His left arm was full
twelve inches shorter than his right, and hung dead at his side”. This cannot be ignored. As you
can see, there was only one victim in this trial. Although Tom Robinson is clearly innocent, he is
trapped by the racism of his generation. In spite of the truth, Mayella’s word is more important
than a hardworking black man whose arm is withered, simply because she is white and he is
black. It was clearly shown that Tom Robinson was physically incapable of performing his
horrendous crime. The fact that he could not have possibly beaten Mayella should have been
taken into consideration, and the trial should have been thrown out. Just because he was black,
Tom Robinson was convicted for raping the girl.

Tom Robinson should not have been convicted because of these allegations. Since there
was a lack of evidence against him, untrustworthy witnesses, and evidence in favor of his case
Tom Robinson’s trial should have been appealed. Ultimately, Tom Robinson is convicted and
sent to prison; all because of the color of his skin, and because of this reason, not even under the
law, at that time, all men were not equal.