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FEATURE STUDENT ESSAY

2019 CLEVELAND MOCK TRIAL WRITING COMPETITION: WINNING ESSAY
WHY FRED “AHMED” EVANS

SHOULD HAVE BEEN FOUND NOT-GUILTY

BY COURTNEY WHITE

Courtney White wrote the top-rated essay for this year’s Cleveland Mock Trial Competition, earning a group that advocated for social and political
her spot among the four students interning at the Cleveland Municipal Court this summer along justice for African Americans and armed self
with the top attorneys and witness. Courtney graduated this spring from the Cleveland School of defense. Due to racial tensions going on during
Science and Medicine at John Hay Campus. She will be attending Kent State University in the fall, this time, the FBI started the COINTELPRO
where she will be majoring in Biology for pre-med, with a minor in psychology. Her essay prompt program, which had been established in 1956 to
was “Research the actual historical shootout in Glenville of 1968 and write an essay about whether focus on “political radicals.” According to pbs.
you believe Fred Ahmed Evans was guilty. Support your argument with facts asserted at trial.” org, one year after the Glenville riots, “focus and
pressure now came onto the Black Panther Party.”
he 1968 Glenville shootout is a case Evans’ conviction for murder was probably J. Edgar Hoover “declared, ‘the Black Panther
that is still mired in controversy. wrong because the evidence does not prove that Party, without question, represents the greatest
While African American activist, he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. threat to internal security of the country’; he
Fred “Ahmed” Evans, was found Before discussing the topic of Evans’s guilt or pledged that 1969 would be the last year of the
Tguilty of first degree murder by an innocence, it is important to understand that tense Party’s existence.” This made it clear that the
all-white jury, the case for his innocence remains local and national climate, as it relates to race at Black Panthers and other black nationalist groups
strong. This essay will argue that Fred Evans should the time. In April of 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King were the targets of the United States Government.
not have been convicted of murder. In proving this In Cleveland, on the day in question, the start of
argument, the racial atmosphere of Cleveland the shootout happened when two allies came to
and the United States will be examined, as well as Fred Ahmed Evans with information that the FBI
the facts used to prove Evans’ guilt and innocent. approached Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes with
Lastly, this essay will end by proving how the information that Evans was planning an uprising.
violation of Evans’ 6th Amendment rights should Evans responded by saying he felt unsafe and
have been enough to acquit him of all charges. decided to arm himself out of self-preservation,
For several reasons, it is difficult to determine and because of this information the police were
Fred “Ahmed” Evans’ innocence or guilt in the stationed outside of Evans’ home.
Glenville shootout. The basic facts of the case are There are aspects of the Evans case that suggest
that on July 23, 1968 there was a shootout between the validity of a guilty verdict. First, Evans openly
the Cleveland Police Department and the Black admitted to arming himself with weaponry after
Nationalists of New Libya in the Glenville hearing about the FBI reporting to Mayor Stokes.
neighborhood. Besides those details, everything Next, an activist from the New Libya group
else is contested. It has been stated repeatedly that testified that Evans called members to a meeting
it is unclear who fired the first shots. In the end, at his house with the intention of arming them
seven people in total died in the shootout: three for a shootout. In addition, three clerks from the
officers, three black activists, and one civilian. neighborhood testified that Evans purchased
The controversy begins with the Cleveland weapons just prior to the shootout. Officer
police’s known history of conflict with Evans. Zagore also testified that police arrived to gunfire
It is almost as if they were focusing on him. In on the scene. The prosecution argued that Evans
February, of 1968, he was arrested for assaulting Jr. was assassinated, and just two months later and other members of the group had weapons
an officer, after the police spit on him. Two Robert F. Kennedy would fall victim to the same and first aid to deliberately start a rebellion. In the
months later, “his storefront shop was closed fate. This is important because it gives a better end, there is persuasive evidence that Evans was
without warning. The locks were changed and understanding of just how bad race relations prepared to engage in gunfire with police, and
his possessions were laid out on the street.” Still, were in Cleveland and the United States in 1968, that he was the leader of the group. If he did not
no one really knows who caused the shootout, when race riots happened all over the country. intend to use the weapons, why did he have them
which begins to support the conclusion that The Black Nationalist of New Libya started as and then give them to others as well?
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