Carl Lee Hailey (born 1936) was an African-American Vietnam War veteran and Mississippi construction worker who, in 1984, murdered white supremacists Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard in the Madison County courthouse before they could stand trial (and probably be acquitted) for the abduction, beating, and rape of Hailey's ten-year-old daughter Tonya. Hailey's murder trial garnered national attention, especially from the local Ku Klux Klan, but he was found not guilty by reason of insanity after his lawyer Jake Brigance had the all-white jury imagine that Tonya was white.
Biography[]
Hailey at his construction job
Carl Lee Hailey was born in Canton, Mississippi in 1936, belonging to a family of poor sharecroppers with his brother Lester. Hailey served in the US Army during the Vietnam War before starting a family with his wife Gwen, having four children: Tonya, Skip, Slim, and Willie. Hailey worked for a construction company for several years, and the family lived in the poor black part of town, across the railroad tracks from the middle-class white side.
Madison County v. Hailey[]
In the summer of 1984, white supremacists Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard, drunkenly cruising around Canton in their pickup truck, came across the ten-year-old Tonya as she walked home with groceries for her family. They threw a beer bottle at her head, abducted her, beat her, raped her in the back of their pickup truck, and attempted to lynch her. She was later discovered and hospitalized, and the two white supremacists were later arrested. Hailey contacted his brother's former attorney Jake Brigance, who told Hailey that it was highly unlikely that they would face any prison time due to facing an all-white jury; Brigance also admitted to Hailey that he would have killed the men if they had raped his daughter. Hailey was determined to avenge his daughter and, while Cobb and Willard were being led into holding after their bond hearing, Hailey burst into the courthouse and killed both men with an M16 rifle, also unintentionally injuring deputy Dwayne Looney.
Hailey fled the courthouse, only to be arrested at his home by Sheriff Ozzie Walls, who privately supported his actions, and who allowed Hailey to walk himself into the back seat of the police car. Hailey was tried for capital murder, and district attorney Rufus Buckley sought the gas chamber for Hailey. Judge Omar Noose was also pressured by Republican state legislators to refuse a change of venue, ensuring that Hailey would face an all-white jury, and to reject bail for Hailey. The Klan attempted to interfere with the trial, burning down Brigance's house, kidnapping and assaulting his law clerk Ellen Roark, killing his secretary Ethel Twitty's frail husband, and burning crosses on the lawns of potential jurors. The National Guard was called into Canton to keep the peace during Hailey's trial, temporarily halting the violence. Protesters shouted "Free Carl Lee!", and Hailey had widespread support from the NAACP, white anti-racists, and even Deputy Looney, who told the jury that he supported Hailey's actions. Ultimately, Brigance gave a captivating closing statement to the jurors, telling them to pretend that Tonya Hailey was a white girl. Hailey was acquitted, and he celebrated his freedom with Brigance's family and his own community in a cookout at his home.