Sutherland wrote "No attempt was made to investigate. Defendants were immediately hurried to trial...." The Court noted that "a defendant, charged with a serious crime, must not be stripped of his right to have sufficient time to advise with counsel and prepare his defense." To deny that, Sutherland wrote, "is not to proceed promptly in the calm spirit of regulated justice but to go forward with the haste of the mob." (U.S. Supreme Court Powell v. Alabama)

Clarence Noriss, one of the nine boys, case was overturned due to an argument that he had no jury of his peers.

There were no blacks serving as jury at his trial. No African-American had ever served as juror in that county. "Within the memory of witnesses long resident there, no negro had ever served on a jury in that county or had been called for such service. Some of these witnesses were over fifty years of age, and had always lived in Morgan County. Their testimony was not contradicted. A clerk of the circuit court, who had resided in the county for thirty years, and who had been in office for over four years, testified that, during his official term, approximately 2,500 persons had been called for jury service, and that not one of them was a negro; that he did not recall "ever seeing any single person of the colored race serve on any jury in Morgan County."

Men of intelligence, some of whom were college graduates, testified to long lists (said to contain nearly 200 names) of such qualified negroes, including many businessmen, owners of real property, and householders. When defendant's counsel proposed to call many additional witnesses in order to adduce further proof of qualifications of negroes for jury service, the trial judge limited the testimony, holding that the evidence was cumulative." (Norris v Alabama) The courts ruled that the exclusion of blacks from the jury invalidated the proceedings.
With this ruling, the Court set a precedent -- under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment, counsel must be guaranteed to everyone facing a possible death sentence, whether in State or federal court. The Scottsboro case was the beginning of an incorporation" into State constitutions of fair trial rights guaranteed by the 6th

Amendment. These rights were made applicable to the States by the 14th Amendment.