50. The Elaine Twelve Were Split Into Two Groups
The Ware group consisted of the first six defendants, whose guilty verdicts were successfully appealed because the ballots that the jurors used did not have an item to select the degree of murder. They had new trials secured, which the next year, in May of 1920.
The Moore group consisted of the other six defendants, whose guilty verdicts were affirmed. Jones and Murphy had to fight to save both groups of men through separate litigation tracks. The Moore group ultimately went to the US Supreme Court, which ruled that the original trial had been a sham.
