Editing Clarence Darrow (section)

====Massie Trial====
The Scopes Trial and the Sweet trial were the last big cases that Darrow took on before he retired from full-time practice at the age of 68. He still took on a few cases such as the 1932 [[Massie Trial]] in Hawaii.

In his last headline-making case, the Massie Trial, Darrow, devastated by the [[Great Depression]], was hired by Eva Stotesbury, the wife of Darrow's old family friend [[Edward T. Stotesbury]], to come to the defense of [[Grace Fortescue]], Edward J. Lord, Deacon Jones, and Thomas Massie, Fortescue's son-in-law, who were accused of murdering [[Joseph Kahahawai]]. Kahahawai had been accused, along with four other men, of raping and beating [[Thalia Massie]], Thomas's wife and Fortescue's daughter; the resulting 1931 case ended in a hung jury (though the charges were later dropped and repeated investigation has shown them to be innocent). Enraged, Fortescue and Massie then orchestrated the murder of Kahahawai in order to extract a confession and were caught by police officers while transporting his dead body.

Darrow entered the racially charged atmosphere as the lawyer for the defendants. He reconstructed the case as a justified [[honor killing]] by Thomas Massie. Considered by ''[[The New York Times]]'' to be one of Darrow's three most compelling trials (along with the Scopes Trial and the Leopold and Loeb case), the case captivated the nation and most of America strongly supported the honor killing defense. In fact, the final defense arguments were transmitted to the mainland through a special radio hookup. In the end, the jury came back with a unanimous verdict of guilty, but on the lesser crime of manslaughter.<ref>David Stannard.[http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2001/Oct/14/op/op03a.html "The Massie case: Injustice and courage"]. ''The Honolulu Advertiser'', October 14, 2001.</ref> As to Darrow's closing, one juror commented, "[h]e talked to us like a bunch of farmers. That stuff may go over big in the Middle West, but not here."<ref>{{cite book | last = Stannard | first = David E. | author-link = David Stannard | title = Honor Killing: Race, Rape, and Clarence Darrow's Spectacular Last Case | orig-year = First published 2005 | year = 2006 | publisher = Penguin Group | isbn = 978-0-14-303663-0 | page = 382}}</ref> Governor [[Lawrence Judd]] later commuted the sentences to one hour in his office.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://darrow.law.umn.edu/Clarence_Darrow_Timeline.pdf |title=Clarence Darrow Timeline of His Life and Legal Career |author=Michael Hannon |page=86 |access-date=February 3, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131008005846/http://darrow.law.umn.edu/Clarence_Darrow_Timeline.pdf |archive-date=October 8, 2013 }}</ref> Years later Deacon admitted to shooting Kahahawai;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Confession of the Killer of Joe Kahahawai, Deacon Jones |url=https://famous-trials.com/massie/302-jonesconfession |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=famous-trials.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Van Slingerland |first=Peter |title=Something Terrible Has Happened |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1966 |isbn= |edition=1 |location=New York |pages=316-322}}</ref> Kahahawai was found not guilty in a [[posthumous trial]].{{citation needed|date=June 2013}}<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dang |first=Marvin |date=August 11, 2006 |title=MOCK TRIAL ENDS WITH 'NOT GUILTY' VERDICT |url=https://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Aug/11/op/FP608110334.html |access-date=March 9, 2025 |work=The Honolulu Advertiser}}</ref>