Criminal Court Cases: The Indictments

Challenging Systemic Racism in Fairfax County Jury Selection

On May 20, 1935, an all-White male grand jury indicted Louise on two charges: “felonious arson” and “feloniously procuring destruction of dwelling house with intent to injure insurer.”[1] Mary Lucy was indicted on one charge of “felonious arson.”[2]

Later that day, Louise and Mary Lucy’s lawyer successfully challenged “the Court to quash the two indictments against L. Louise Carpenter … and the indictment against Mary Lucy Carpenter.”[3] Their lawyer used the recent decision from the Supreme Court in the “Scottsboro Cases,” to argue “that the Court deprived [them] of rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States” because “no members of the colored or Negro race served upon the Grand Jury which returned said indictments.”[4] The judge considered the lawyer’s argument and then ordered the sheriff to “summon seven (7) persons, of the colored, or Negro race,” to “serve as Grand Jurors on the Special Grand Jury.”[5]

On May 24, 1935, the all-Black special grand jury indicted Louise and Mary Lucy on the same charges as before.[6]

Handwritten list of colored men to be summoned for the grand jury.

Handwritten Colored Grand Jury List

This is the handwritten list of Black men that Judge McCarthy requested to be summon to serve on the all-Black grand jury.

Carpenter Case Grand Jury

This photograph depicts the all-Black Special Grand Jury assembled to hear the charges against the Carpenters. This was the first time an all-Black jury was assembled in Fairfax County. Pictured from left to right, sitting: Otis Wade, James Collins, Attana Payne; standing: Ollie Tinner, Alexander White, John Pearson, Henry Page.

Writ of venire facias for all-Black Special Grand Jury

This is the venire facias for the special all-Black grand jury that the court summoned to hear the charges against the Carpenters.

Payment documentation for 1935 May jurors.

Order Making Allowances to Grand Jurors, May 1935 Term

This is the record of payment for the grand jurors. They clearly marked the juror's race.

Newspaper clipping titled "No Negroes of Juror List."

"No Negroes on Juror List," Washington Post, May 21, 1935.

"No Negroes on Juror List; Quash Fairfax Indictments," Washington Post, May 21, 1925. ProQuest Historic Newpapers: Washington Post.

Newspaper clipping titled "Novel Spectacle."

"Novel Spectacle," Fairfax Herald, May 24, 1935.

"Novel Spectacle," Fairfax Herald, May 24, 1935. VirginiaChronicle.

Newspaper clipping from 1935 titled, "A Negro Jury in Fairfax."

"A Negro Jury in Fairfax," Washington Post, May 27, 1935.

"A Negro Jury in Fairfax," Washington Post, May 27, 1935. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.

[1] Commonwealth vs. L. Louise Carpenter, May 20, 1935, Fairfax County Court Minute Book 17, Fairfax County Circuit Court Historic Records Center, 69-70.

[2] Commonwealth vs. Mary Lucy Carpenter, May 20, 1935, Fairfax County Court Minute Book 17, Fairfax County Circuit Court Historic Records Center, 70.

[3] Commonwealth vs. L. Louise Carpenter, May 20, 1935, Fairfax County Court Minute Book 17, Fairfax County Circuit Court Historic Records Center, 69-70; Commonwealth vs. Mary Lucy Carpenter, May 20, 1935, Fairfax County Court Minute Book 17, Fairfax County Circuit Court Historic Records Center, 70.

[4] Commonwealth vs. L. Louise Carpenter, May 20, 1935, Fairfax County Court Minute Book 17, Fairfax County Circuit Court Historic Records Center, 69-70; Commonwealth vs. Mary Lucy Carpenter, May 20, 1935, Fairfax County Court Minute Book 17, Fairfax County Circuit Court Historic Records Center, 70.

[5] Commonwealth vs. L. Louise Carpenter, May 20, 1935, Fairfax County Court Minute Book 17, Fairfax County Circuit Court Historic Records Center, 69-70; Commonwealth vs. Mary Lucy Carpenter, May 20, 1935, Fairfax County Court Minute Book 17, Fairfax County Circuit Court Historic Records Center, 70.

[6] Special Grand Jury of Inquest, May 24, 1935, Fairfax County Court Minute Book 17, Fairfax County Circuit Court Historic Records Center, 79-80.

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