Trial Summary: Day Eight
July 21, 1925
On the last day of trial, Judge Raulston refused to permit further questioning of Bryan and ruled that Bryan’s testimony would be stricken from the record. Judge Raulston explained that he had gone too far in allowing Bryan to be questioned. Upon objection from Darrow, Raulston explained that the record of Bryan’s testimony would only come before an appellate court if that court issued a writ for it.
Darrow tried his final strategy, moving that the jury be instructed to find Scopes guilty. This would mean that neither the defense nor the prosecution could make a closing statement, depriving Bryan of the opportunity to deliver the final speech he had begun working on before coming to Dayton.
Courtroom and Jury just before verdict.
The jury was called in and seated. Outside of the hearing of the jury and spectators, Darrow presented to Judge Raulston the defense’s request for a jury instruction that Scopes be found guilty under the law but that it would not be a plea or admission of guilt. Darrow explained that the defense had not been permitted to make their case because expert testimony was excluded, so there was no logical reason to continue the trial—the outcome was inevitable. He also said that it was “probably the best result.” With the prosecution in agreement, and since both sides understood that the case would be appealed, Stewart asked Judge Raulston to charge the jury, and to explain that the court did not object to a guilty verdict, hoping the case would be appealed to a higher court.
The jury deliberated for only about nine minutes before finding Scopes guilty of violating the Butler Act. The Act did not permit the imposition of a fine smaller than $100, though the Tennessee Constitution required that fines over $50 must be assessed by a jury. However, Raulston himself decided that Scopes would pay the minimum fine of $100. In response to the verdict, and for the first time during the trial, Scopes was given an opportunity to speak:
I will continue in the future, as I have in the past, to oppose this law in any way I can. Any other action would be in violation of my ideal of academic freedom—that is, to teach the truth as guaranteed in our constitution, of personal and religious freedom.
The judge's decision to set the minimum fine instead of requiring the jury to do so, a seemingly trivial issue, would soon provide the basis for the Supreme Court of Tennessee to overturn Scopes’s conviction, though on a technicality that allowed that court to avoid ruling on the constitutionality of the Butler Act. After a final prayer and adjournment, Tennessee v. John T. Scopes came to an end in the Rhea County Courthouse.