Convicting the Innocent: Errors of Criminal Justice
(1932)
by Edwin M. Borchard
Case #24
Ernest Lyons
VIRGINIA
In the little congregation of colored folks at Reid's Ferry, Virginia, in
the summer of 1908, there arose a division over the question of who should
serve as pastor of the flock. Rev. James Smith had been the regular pastor
for some time, but he was losing the support of many of the members. These
members favored the selection of Rev. Ernest Lyons, a younger man, who, on
occasion, had been assisting Smith in the preaching. Smith, it seems, lived
in the Lyons home, but as the rivalry between them became more intense they
developed suspicions of each other and at times had serious quarrels. This
was especially true after Lyons began to suspect Smith of intimacy with
Lyons' sister-in-law.
On July 31, 1908, the congregation intrusted its funds to Smith to be taken
to the regional church conference which was to start the next day in Suffolk
– the beautiful old tidewater town a few miles away which serves as the
county seat of Nansemond County, and is reputed to be the peanut capital of
the world. That day Smith and Lyons were said to have quarreled over some of
the conference details, and in the heat of the argument Lyons threatened to
kill Smith. Nevertheless, they were seen leaving the church together at
about six o'clock in the evening. The next day Lyons arrived at the
conference, but Smith never did appear. This was especially unfortunate for
the members of the Reid's Ferry congregation, since they were unable to make
the expected good showing with their $45 conference fund. Lyons reported
that he had left Smith shortly after their departure from the church, and
that Smith had said he would follow the next day.
Smith completely disappeared and Lyons became the preacher of the church,
although many folks, especially Smith's friends, were unconvinced by Lyons'
story of their last separation. Their suspicions were confirmed in a very
short time when the corpse of a large negro was found in the Nansemond River
near the church
– disintegrated beyond recognition. The body was buried by the county
authorities. Rumors immediately spread through the colored community and
soon came to the attention of the Commonwealth's Attorney. The corpse was of
about the same build and proportions as Smith, and several of the latter's
friends identified various articles of clothing found on the corpse as
similar to those worn by Smith when last seen. A woman friend of Smith's,
who had not seen the corpse, told the authorities that if the body were
really Smith's they would find a ring, with a purple setting, on the little
finger of the left hand. The body was exhumed and a ring exactly fitting
this description was found on the finger mentioned by the woman. The ring
could not be gotten off the finger because of its swollen condition, so the
finger was amputated by the medical authorities for use as an exhibit in
court. The doctors reported further that the autopsy showed that the man had
died by violence
– a blow upon the head with a dull instrument
– and that he had been thrown into the river when he was dead or dying.
The Commonwealth's Attorney presented this evidence to the Nansemond County
Grand Jury, which returned an indictment against Lyons for murder. The trial
was called on January 13, 1909, before Judge James L. McLemore of the
Nansemond County Circuit Court, and was held in the old Colonial courthouse
in Suffolk. The trial attracted a large crowd of people, and despite the
strong accumulation of circumstantial evidence against him, Lyons was
persistent in his assertions of innocence. Lyons was defended by Robert W.
Withers, one of the leaders of the bar of southern Virginia; and the
prosecution was in charge of the equally able Commonwealth's Attorney James
U. Burgess. The state submitted all of its evidence on the identity of the
corpse and on the alleged motive the defendant had for getting rid of Smith.
It was also shown that Lyons had told a number of conflicting stories about
the disappearance of Smith, declaring at various times that he had seen
Smith since his disappearance, in Portsmouth, Norfolk, and Newport News.
These statements were shown to be untrue. The defense tried to show that the
corpse was not Smith's, that Smith was still living, and that in any event
the evidence connecting Lyons with Smith's disappearance was too weak to
sustain a conviction. The Commonwealth's Attorney urged the jury to return a
verdict of first-degree murder, carrying with it a sentence of death.
At the close of a three-day trial, the jury returned a verdict of
second-degree murder, evidently believing that Lyons had killed Smith, but
that the crime was an incident of the renewed outbreak of their quarrel. The
Commonwealth's Attorney's plea had made such a deep impression upon Lyons'
imagination that when the milder verdict of second-degree murder was
returned, a look of great relief
– almost of joy
– was markedly noticeable upon
his face. Instead of execution, he received a sentence of eighteen years in
the penitentiary.
--------------------
Mr. Withers felt convinced of Lyons' innocence. He made a motion for a new
trial, which was denied by Judge McLemore. Mr. Withers was not satisfied
and requested the Judge to grant a rehearing of the motion. This the Judge
agreed to do if Withers would first go to the jail and, after advising
Lyons that the motion for a new trial had been denied, ask him for the true
story of what had happened. Mr. Withers did this merely to satisfy Judge
McLemore. His surprise was great when Lyons confessed that he had
participated in the killing of Smith. The details of his confession,
concerning the way the crime had been committed, were exactly as the
Commonwealth's Attorney had alleged them at the trial, but Lyons implicated
many of the members of the church. All of those implicated, incidentally,
had been witnesses against Lyons at his trial. The Commonwealth's Attorney
had them all arrested.
The next morning, the implicated negroes were lined around the reception
room of the jail, and Lyons was brought in. There was astonishment on both
sides. Lyons, however, repeated his confession as he had given it the day
before. The others were dumbfounded, and so frightened that they could not
find words to speak. Finally the Commonwealth's Attorney told Lyons to
raise his right hand to heaven
– which he did
– and to repeat, "If I have told
a lie, may God strike me dead." Lyons dropped his hand without a murmur. The
officials were convinced of the falsity of the
statement implicating the others, and they were all released immediately.
Lyons had lied entirely too often. He was sent to the penitentiary.
--------------------
Mr. George Bunting, the Clerk of the Circuit Court, owned a farm on the
Nansemond River, and had known Lyons and Smith well. Although Lyons went to
the penitentiary, Mr. Bunting believed that Smith was still alive. He was
inclined to give credence to a story passing about that the corpse was that
of an unknown negro who had come up the river in a rowboat with another
unknown man. The deserted boat was later found near by, and the tracks of
only one person could be seen leading away from it. Mr. Bunting investigated
the matter privately as opportunity offered from time to time. Although he
never unraveled the mystery of the corpse, he did find Smith alive and in
the best of health just across the state line in North Carolina. After much
urging, Smith was induced to return to Suffolk, where he was produced before
Judge McLemore and was identified by a large number of people who knew him.
Smith admitted that when he obtained the $45 conference fund he fled into
North Carolina, where he had remained. He had seen the newspaper stories of
the trial and conviction of Lyons, but had done nothing because he feared
prosecution for having taken the money. He had a ring exactly like the one
on the corpse. One calling at the courthouse today will find, in the
archives, the ring from the amputated finger. It is a ring made from the
cheapest kind of yellow alloy metal and has a setting of purple glass.
Needless to say, the officers of Nansemond County were thoroughly disgusted
with Smith, and possibly with their own credulity. Commonwealth's Attorney
Burgess immediately laid the whole situation before Gov. William H. Mann,
who granted Lyons a pardon without delay on April 3, 1912. Lyons had served
over three years for the murder of a man who was still alive.
--------------------
This was a clear case of circumstantial evidence. The body of the negro in the river was never really identified as that of the Rev. Mr. Smith, but the disappearance, the quarrel, the supposed motive, and the discovery of the fatal ring with a purple setting on the little finger of the left hand were sufficient to tip the scales against Lyons. The coincidence of the ring probably convinced the last skeptic, but like many other coincidences it was utterly worthless as evidence of guilt. Fortunately, the jury refused to heed the demand of the Commonwealth's Attorney for a verdict of murder in the first degree. The jury did what the law itself should do in all such cases, namely, make impossible the death penalty when the conviction rests upon circumstantial evidence alone. Whether greater zealousness in establishing the truth could have enabled the Commonwealth's Attorney to find Smith in North Carolina, as he was later found by Mr. Bunting, it is hard to say. The eloquence of the Commonwealth's Attorney so unnerved the distressed Lyons, that, alarmed and chagrined at his fate, he not only admitted, after conviction, a crime he did not commit, but implicated unfriendly witnesses whose testimony helped to bring about his predicament. Only the fortunate circumstance that Mr. Bunting took a personal interest in unraveling the mystery saved Lyons from a harsher fate; not all erroneously convicted persons have such good fortune.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Circuit Court of Nansemond County, Virginia
– Common Law Order Book No. 4
(1909), pp. 65-66, 68, 69, and the docketed pleadings.
2. Annual Report of the Virginia Penitentiary (1912), p. 26.
3. The Washington Star, April 3, 1912, p. 2.
4. The Norfolk Virginian Pilot, January 13, 1909, p. 7a; January 14, 1909,
p. 7ab; January 15, 1909, p. 7c; January 16, 1909, p. 7a; April 3, 1912, p.
10a; April 5, 1912, p. 10b.
5. McLemore, James L. "The Strange Case of Reverend Ernest Lyons Who Falsely
Confessed Murder and Suffered Accordingly," 17 Virginia Law Review 369
(1931).
6. Acknowledgments: Judge James L. McLemore of Suffolk; Miss Olivera
Whitehurst, Deputy Clerk of the Circuit Court.