Biography
Ralph Edward Holmes was convicted with Joseph Jackson and Irvin Murray of first-degree murder in the 1932 Logan Circle death of Park Policeman Milo Kennedy in Washington, D.C. The defendants said police beat confessions from them, while the International Labor Defense argued that they had resisted a racially abusive officer. Lawyers John H. Wilson and Samuel Levine represented them on appeal. The federal appellate court affirmed the judgments on June 26, 1933. Holmes remained in custody and was executed on January 12, 1934.
The Daily Worker of October 21, 1932, page 1, reports from Washington on October 20 that Harry Duvall, Louis Murray and Leroy Robinson were freed after dismissal of the murder charges against them in the Logan Circle case. It names Ralph Holmes among the three defendants still on trial, together with the other two of Joseph Jackson, Ralph Holmes and Irvin Murray. This contemporary split disposition supplies an intermediate trial status and is separate from the later convictions and executions. The ILD's characterization of the incident as defense against a brutal police attack remains attributed to the defense. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1932/v09-n252-NY-oct-21-1932-DW-LOC.pdf
The June28 Logan Circle report says the District of Columbia Court of Appeals denied a new trial and upheld the death verdict, with execution then set for August22. ILD announced an immediate Supreme Court appeal; the named lawyers were John H. Wilson, Samuel Levine and Bernard Ades. The announced August date was prospective and does not replace the later actual January12,1934 execution. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1933/v010-n154-Nat-jun-28-1933-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
