The Blackjack at the Courthouse

A county sheriff, a town policeman and a special deputy arrested a Black man late at night on a warrant charging him with stealing a tire. Prosecutors said that when they reached the courthouse, the three officers beat him with their fists and a two-pound blackjack for fifteen to thirty minutes until he lost consciousness; he died within the hour without waking. There was evidence that the sheriff held a grudge against the man and had threatened to 'get' him. The officers were charged under a federal civil-rights statute with wilfully depriving him of his constitutional rights. The officers said the man had reached for a gun and used insulting language as he got out of the car, and argued that the statute was too vague to be applied to them.