Tommy Lee Hines–a name that any adult who lived in Culllman County during the late summer and fall of 1978 instantly recognizes because of a nationally publicized trial in Cullman County. Hines was a 25 year old black man with an IQ of 39 from Decatur, Alabama who was charged with raping and robbing three white women there. His arrest instantly stirred racial tensions that had largely been hidden beneath the surface since the volatile 1960’s. After many public demonstrations by the white Klu Klux Klan and the black Southern Christian Leadership Conference–one of those resulting in shots being fired and four people wounded–Hines’ lawyers filed a motion to change venue on the basis that he could not get afair trial in Morgan County. The judge agreed and transferred the case to Cullman County–where the black population was less than one percent.
Only ten years old, I vividly remember the events that transpired in September and October 1978. Cullman was on the national news. I remember watching one of the major network’s five o’clock broadcast where the reporter announced he was reporting from “Coolman”–mispronouncing its name. I also remember returning from a football game and seeing a cross being burned at a Klan rally in a field off of Highway 31 south of Cullman. What I did not understand at the time was how these events were a microcosm of the racial tensions that had existed for many years throughout the South.
The Hines trial began on Monday, October 2, 1978, with the selection of an all white jury. On Tuesday the victim identified Hines as her assailant in open court. On cross examination she admitted that she had not been able to identify Hines when the Decatur police first showed her photographs of Hines. Several days of testimony were taken by the court outside the presence of the jury on the issues of whether Hines was competent to stand trial and whether his confession was admissible. Despite being illiterate, his written confession was admitted into evidence. On Friday, October 13, 1978, after three hours of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of guilty and the judge sentenced Hines to 30 years in prison. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals ultimately reversed the conviction and remanded the case for a new trial (Opinion can be found here). Hines was subsequently found incompetent to stand trial by a Jefferson County jury. The State arranged for him to live in a group home in Tuscaloosa until he was released to go home in 1993.
(Sources for this post include newspapers articles and photographs from The Cullman Times and The Cullman Tribune)
Cullman Legal 