Giles-Johnson Defense Committee (Montgomery Co., Md.)

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The Giles-Johnson Defense Committee was established in July 1962 by Mrs. Howard Ross and sixty other Maryland residents to aid three young black men, James Giles, John Giles, and Joseph Johnson, who were sentenced to death for allegedly raping a white teenage girl, Joyce Roberts, in 1961. This case outraged the community because of the severity of the sentence, the suppression of evidence by the state, and other injustices perceived as racially motivated. Due to the efforts of the committee, Governor J. Millard Tawes commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment in October 1963. The Giles brothers were retried in 1967 and the charges were dropped. Joseph Johnson was eventually pardoned by Governor Spiro T. Agnew in 1968. John Giles was shot and killed in Baltimore in 1971.

This landmark case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. As a result of the committee's exertions, the Maryland law which limits motions for trials based on newly-discovered evidence to three days after sentencing, was changed.

From the guide to the Giles-Johnson Defense Committeearchives, 1962-1971, 1962-1971, (State of Maryland and Historical Collections)

Committee formed to gain the freedom of James and John Giles and Joseph Johnson, convicted of rape in Montgomery County, Maryland.

From the description of Archives of the Giles-Johnson Defense Committee, 1962-1971. (University of Maryland Libraries). WorldCat record id: 18265710

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Giles-Johnson Defense Committee (Montgomery Co., Md.). Records, 1962-1971 University of Maryland (College Park, Md.). Libraries
creatorOf Giles-Johnson Defense Committee (Montgomery Co., Md.). Records, 1962-1971 University of Maryland (College Park, Md.). Libraries
referencedIn J. B. Matthews Papers, 1862-1986 and undated David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Giles, James V., 1941- person
associatedWith Giles, James V., 1941- person
associatedWith Giles, John Gordon person
associatedWith Giles, John Gordon. person
associatedWith Johnson, Joseph Elijah person
associatedWith Johnson, Joseph Elijah. person
associatedWith Knapp, Harold A. person
associatedWith Matthews, J. B. (Joseph Brown), 1894-1966 person
associatedWith Ross, Frances. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Maryland
Subject
Acquittals
Capital punishment
Trials (Rape)
Trials (Rape)
Occupation
Activity

Corporate Body

Active 1962

Active 1971

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SNAC ID: 84841022