Biography
Robert Lee Johnson was a Black Virginia prisoner whose Norfolk murder conviction became an International Labor Defense campaign. A February 14, 1935 Norfolk dispatch reports that a defense committee had visited him in prison and describes an imposed life sentence. The Daily Worker called the prosecution a frame-up: a policeman was killed in a gun battle after two policemen confronted two unidentified Black men; Johnson was subsequently arrested, tried before an all-white jury and represented by court-appointed counsel. The report says the lower court denied a new trial on February 3 and the ILD planned an appeal to the Court of Appeals. Johnson reportedly told the visiting committee he preferred to fight the conviction even at risk of a death sentence on retrial. His exact custody start, facility and completed duration are not established. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1935/v12-n040-Nat-feb-15-1935-DW-LOC.pdf#page=2 An April 19 Norfolk report identified Johnson as fifty-two years old and described renewed ILD efforts for a new trial, alleging perjured police testimony and an all-white jury. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1935/v12-n095-NAT-apr-20-1935-DW-Q.pdf#page=3
