Reeder 1

David Reeder

Ms. Weaver

LNG 312

29 March 2011

Infinitesimal Evidence with Guilt

Even though the Constitution states that every man is equal under the law, this is not true.
People are often prejudiced and discriminated against during a trial. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a
Mockingbird, she tells a story of a young girl growing up in a time of racism and hatred. Scout’s
father, Atticus, is asked to defend a black man in a rape trial, and he tries his best. Ultimately,
Tom Robinson is convicted and sent to prison, all because the color of his skin. Based on the
events in To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee does not believe that all men are equal under the
law. This is shown in the novel when Tom Robinson gets convicted; when he is actually
innocent. Tom Robinson should not have been convicted because there was a lack of evidence
against him, untrustworthy witnesses, and the evidence ruled in his favor. This was a case based
on skin color, prejudice, and discrimination.

The first problem that made this conviction unfair was the lack of evidence against Tom.
If Tom Robinson did commit the crime, then Mr. Ewell should have called a doctor. Mr. Tom
Robinson was an honorable person whose only crime was feeling sorry for a lonely white
woman. There was no evidence to collaborate Mr. Ewell’s story that Mayella had been raped,
except the testimony of Sheriff Tate. Sherriff Tate claimed he arrived at the scene and Mayella
had been badly beaten, but he did not even call a doctor to confirm that she had been raped.
Atticus asked, “did you call a doctor, Sheriff? Did anyone call a doctor?” Heck Tate’s response
to the cross-examination was: “no sir”. This only goes to show that because the accused man was
black, the Sheriff did not feel he would need an actual doctor’s examination to have the man
found guilty of raping Mayella. This shows that all men are not equal under the court system
because of it would have been a white man accused of raping her, a doctor would have been
called immediately.