Biography
Printed Jess Holling in the September 1934 roster’s victims-of-national-oppression section, he was confined at the state penitentiary in McAlester under an appealed death sentence. The Supreme Court’s official journal identifies Jess Hollins as petitioner in docket 686. Its May 13, 1935 opinion reversed his Oklahoma rape conviction because Black people had been excluded from the jury on racial grounds. The reversal establishes a new-trial ruling, not physical release. Exact custody endpoints and actual duration remain unknown. Court sources: https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/journals/scannedjournals/1934_journal.pdf#page=222 ; https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USREPORTS-295/pdf/USREPORTS-295-394.pdf Labor Defender, September 1934, original PDF page 18. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1934/v10n08-sep-1934-orig-LD.pdf#page=18
Labor Defender, March 1934, PDF page 25: Printed Jessie Hollins, his letter thanks the defense organization for holiday greetings. The caption reports a death sentence, new trial won and two and a half years served at this intermediate point. It prints Creek County Jail, Salupa, Ala.; the geographic wording conflicts with his independently established Oklahoma identity and is retained as a source error rather than relocating the case or inventing dates. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1934/v10n03-mar-1934-orig-LD.pdf#page=25
Labor Defender, February 1936, PDF page 22: His signed letter is from Oklahoma State Penitentiary under the heading He Faces Death and thanks supporters for Christmas gifts and correspondence. This is intermediate custody evidence, not a new sentence or discharge. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1936/v12-%5B10%5Dn02-feb-1936-orig-LD.pdf#page=22
The February 25 Youth Column reports that Governor Bill Murray announced a stay of electrocution amid the joint YCL and ILD defense campaign, while also saying Hollins should be executed. It names Irene Hollins as his wife, reporting her age as twenty, and Floyd Phillips as the YCL investigator who described threats in Creek County. The twenty-year age belongs to Irene, not Jess. A stay is not physical release or final reversal; no exact stay day or custody endpoints are supplied. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1932/v09-n048-NY-feb-25-1932-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3
