Scottie Randolph Edwards
Photograph of Scottie Edwards’s funeral program, courtesy of Cynthia Carter.
Memorial by Cynthia Michelle Carter
Attorney at Law
Scottie’s Lawyer and Friend
Scottie Randolph Edwards was my client, and he was also my friend. I met Scottie in 2012 when my friend and former co-worker from the State Public Defender’s office, Emily, referred him to me. I filed a sentence modification and handled a post-conviction case for Scottie. Both of those efforts were unsuccessful. Yet, Scottie remained steadfast and never gave up seeking justice.
Scottie was the hardest working [incarcerated person] I’ve met in 18 years of practice; he had a work ethic second to none. He fought for things he believed in, family, justice, equal rights, and freedom.
My generation, Gen X, received a less than complete education in Civil Rights. We got maybe a paragraph about Rosa Parks and a page or two about Martin Luther King, Jr. in our history books. That was not right because by then the Civil Rights movement was at least 20 years old and should have been properly and fully documented in our textbooks.
Scottie taught me about the Green Book. He taught me how his father fought for this Country in World War II only to come home and be treated like a second-class citizen in a nation still held in Jim Crow’s grip.
Scottie urged me and his daughter Deitra, who went to high school with me, to attend NAACP meetings and ask for help bringing his Batson v. Kentucky issues to the forefront. Scottie was tried three times for the same charges after winning his first two appeals. Somehow in a city, Indianapolis, with a 28% African American population, all three juries consisted of all white members (with the exception of one alternate who was a black female). There were all Caucasian members; no blacks, Latinos, Asians or Native Americans. This was not fair. We were unsuccessful in convincing the courts.
Scottie never gave up, though. He believed in the Constitution and the Rule of Law and continued to petition the courts for redress.
My representation of Scottie ended years ago, but he continued to keep in touch. Out of the blue, I received an Order in my e-mail on April 10, 2020. That Order was dated April 6, 2020 and indicated Scottie was to be released from prison on May 6, 2020. On April 13, 2020, while it was unbeknownst to me that he had even been sick, Scottie passed away. Though I did not know of his illness, he was on my mind all day that day, and I sat down to my computer around 10:30 PM to send him a letter and copy of the Order indicating he was to be released. Then I decided since the mail had already gone out for the day, it would be OK to send it out Tuesday morning, and that’s what I did. But it was too late because Tuesday afternoon, Scottie’s granddaughter, Brandee, texted me: “What happened to Papaw? How did he pass? They’re not telling us anything?” Then I called her and found out he was gone. The letter was returned to me about a week later marked “deceased.”
Scottie was a good man. He worked hard all his life, retiring from the Department of Agriculture. He looked after his children, paying his child support even from prison. Scottie was an astute legal researcher and prolific letter writer.
Scottie lived his life without getting into trouble until he was about 54 years old. […] To this day, I believe Scottie’s only mistake was taking matters into his own hands instead of calling the police. Yet, understanding how he grew up in the shadow of Jim Crow, it makes sense that he did not feel comfortable doing that. Because unfortunately our Nation’s history and personal experience he endured told him that might not have worked out well for him.
Scottie was in my Top Five clients of all time. He is also the only client I ever visited on a Sunday. He was special. We sat and talked for four hours that day.
Scottie’s family was kind enough to include me in the visitation services when he was honored at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis. Grounds-men were planting trees at Crown Hill the day Scottie was buried. I thought that was appropriate and fitting. I had the honor of meeting Scottie’s sister, Gloria Sam, and was able to pay my respects to her at the service. Ms. Sam is a retired educator and feels, as do I, that people need to be educated about what is happening in our society. Here we have mass incarceration. Here we have a system that is more about retribution than rehabilitation. Here we have cases being overcharged. A lot of the systemic problems happen in the screening process before the cases ever reach the courtroom. Here we are building prisons and tearing down schools. That is not good for anybody. It needs to stop.
Scottie will be remembered as a warrior for justice and a person who had the courage of his convictions. May his name be honored and his memory be a blessing to those he left behind.
(my thanks to Claire Chang for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts about my client and friend, Scottie Randolph Edwards)
From Mourning Our Losses:
Photograph of Scottie Randolph Edwards, obtained from Legacy.com.
Scottie Randolph Edwards, 73, was a hardworking, ethical man who cared greatly for his family. A longtime advocate for justice, equal rights, and freedom for all people, Scottie “fought for things he believed in,” states his lawyer and friend, Cynthia Carter. Born on September 18, 1943, Scottie grew up in the shadow of Jim Crow segregation. These experiences caused him to be an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Scottie would encourage family members and friends, including Cynthia, to attend. He was known, in Cynthia’s words, as “an astute legal researcher and prolific letter writer” and believed deeply in his country’s Constitution and rule of law.
In high school, Scottie was a star athlete. He was a member of the Caldwell County High School football team, and also played basketball. He led both teams to win championships multiple times. For his incredible athleticism, he is inducted in the Caldwell County Football Hall of Fame. As an adult, Scottie worked at the Department of Agriculture and devoted himself to his children, always looking out for their safety and well-being. He established bonds with all kinds of people and was considered a good, kind friend. Cynthia remembers that in all 18 years of her practice, “Scottie was in my Top Five clients of all time. He is also the only client I ever visited on a Sunday. He was special.”
Scottie sadly became the first casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic in Indiana prisons on April 13, 2020. Scottie’s friends at Westville Correctional Center say that, as a 73-year-old man with chronic health problems, he was especially vulnerable to the virus. He was to be released to home confinement on May 1, but he began showing signs of COVID-19 in early April and died just weeks before he could go home. In fact, Scottie could have been freed under a proposal that called for the early release of those who had completed at least 75% of their sentences and had less than six months to serve. Advocates worried about the confined spaces within prisons and the lack of basic precautions. The plan was rejected by state officials, thus ensuring the continuation of preventable tragedies.
Others incarcerated at Westville told the press that Scottie’s worsening condition was ignored repeatedly by prison medical staff, whose behavior showed a pattern of disregard for incarcerated people’s health. “There is a major problem here with this place and its [sic] outta control,” wrote Josh, a friend of Scottie’s, who declined to use his full name for fear of retaliation by prison staff. The Indiana Department of Correction (IDC), on the other hand, declined to comment on the nature of Scottie’s death and merely stated that he was an “offender” who “did not have indications of illness,” directly contradicting multiple accounts by Scottie’s friends. Labeling Scottie as an “offender” moreover indicates a lack of genuine sympathy for his health or empathy for his death.
The IDC states that they moved quickly to contain the spread of the virus and prioritize everyone’s safety, but the facts tell a different story. A shortage of masks and hand sanitizer, combined with a disregard for basic health protocols, made an already unsafe environment yet more dangerous. Most tragic was the failure of communication; Scottie’s family members were not notified of his illness until after his death. Cynthia recalls, “On April 13, 2020, while it was unbeknownst to me that he had even been sick, Scottie passed away.” A letter Cynthia had been sending to Scottie was returned to her, coldly marked “deceased.” Scottie’s granddaughter, Brandee, had texted Cynthia asking, “What happened to Papaw? How did he pass? They’re not telling us anything?” His sister, Gloria Sam, remembered, “They said he had passed. I said, passed? What do you mean passed – he died? It’s just the – it’s one of the most hurtful things I’ve experienced in my life.”
The ACLU and the Indiana Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild are pressuring Indiana Governor Holcomb to immediately release all incarcerated people most vulnerable to death or serious injury by COVID-19. Governor Holcomb and other state officials have refused early releases, arguing, blithely, that those released would have nowhere to go. Of course, inside the prisons they also have nowhere to go, so the virus spreads and the casualties mount.
Cynthia and Gloria “both feel very strongly that Scottie’s story should be told” and that the pattern of indifference to the injustices within American society needs to change. “Especially now that the collective consciousness seems to be reaching a new level, I believe people are beginning to realize the systemic injustices that still permeate our society and legal system,” Cynthia wrote. She remembers Scottie as “a warrior for justice and a person who had the courage of his convictions. May his name be honored and his memory be a blessing to those he left behind.”
We mourn the loss of a beloved brother, father, grandfather, and friend, Scottie Randolph Edwards.
This memorial was written by MOL team member Claire Chang with information from reporting by Jake Harper of Side Effects Public Media and NPR, Tim Evans of The Indianapolis Star, and Todd Griffin of Your Sports Edge. Special thanks to Cynthia Carter for her memorial on Scottie Edwards.
