Tom Robinson did not have a fair trial in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. However, some of the townspeople in Maycomb might claim that the trial was fair, because Tom had a great lawyer who represented him to the best of his ability. The law states that in order to find a defendant guilty, you must find them guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. This doesn’t mean any slight doubt, or beyond all doubt, it means a doubt which would cause a reasonable person to hesitate in taking away another person’s freedom.
Atticus proved that Tom Robinson was not guilty, and yet Tom was still found guilty by the jury. A jury is supposed to be free of both sympathy and prejudice for the defendant. Obviously, the jury was not impartial to Tom Robinson due to his race, and they convicted him based on their racial prejudices.
For these reasons, Tom Robinson did not receive a fair trial.
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