Event Information

Presented by the
The South Carolina Bar-Continuing Legal Education Division

Sponsored by 
Burnette Shutt & McDaniel, PA
The South Carolina Bar Civil Rights Section
The South Carolina Bar Diversity Committee 

This program qualifies for 1.0 MCLE credit hour for the discussion only. 

“A Crime on the Bayou” is a prize-winning documentary that portrays a dramatic incident in 1966 Louisiana that involved two arrests that both became landmark constitutional cases.   In one, Gary Duncan was convicted without a jury, but his conviction was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U.S. 145  (1968), which held for the first time that the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial applies to the states.  In the other case, Duncan’s volunteer out-of-state lawyer was arrested for practicing law without a Louisiana license, but his prosecution was enjoined, Sobol v. Perez, 289 F. Supp. 392 (E.D. La. 1968)(three-judge court), because extensive proof showed that African Americans’ constitutional rights could not be protected in Louisiana at that time without out-of-state volunteer lawyers. 

This important CLE program will include the film (90 minutes), followed by discussion about the incident and about the constitutional legacy of our civil rights history.  This portion will discuss the cases in the film, as well as other landmark cases such as New York Times v. Sullivan (First Amendment); NAACP v. Alabama (right of privacy); Edwards v. South Carolina (due process requirement of evidence); Hamm v. City of Rock Hill (abatement of criminal prosecutions); and many others.

Participants will include Gary Duncan, the main subject of the film, Charleston civil rights attorney and co-author of Justice Deferred: Race and the Supreme Court, Armand Derfner, who appears in the film, as well as Professor of Law and Director of Office of Diversity Initiatives at Charleston School of Law, Debra Gammons.  Our esteemed faculty will discuss the film, as well as the constitutional legacy of civil rights history on modern jurisprudence and constitutional cases and doctrine that originated in civil rights disputes. 

Because of generous sponsorship from Burnette Shutt & McDaniel, the Bar’s Civil Rights Section and Diversity Committee, there is no charge for this special program.

Watch the trailer: https://vimeo.com/654214968

This seminar is a basic to intermediate level program.