During May 1937 two murder trials took place in the McLean County Courthouse. One murder had occurred the previous April and the other just weeks before the trial. Luella Taylor was accused of stabbing Charley Smith, the man she was housekeeper to in West Bloomington, during a drinking party in 1936. Filomeno Rocha was accused of stabbing Hill Cisneros during a drunken brawl in a train car bunkhouse in May 1937.
Luella Taylor claimed self defense in the stabbing. She and Smith had disagreed over her employment and it was her plan to leave the house. Smith came to her room, apparently to argue, and had a knife. He threatened to hurt her and she used her own knife to defend herself. She struck him in the head, and did not realize that he died later of the wound that she had given him. At the trial, Luella Taylor, an African American woman, was described as wearing "a short black dress that failed to hide her knees as she squirmed restlessly in the witness chair" and "(h)er bobbed hair is grayish, but her face is young appearing. She wore heavy lipstick." She told the jury of a drinking party that occurred the afternoon and evening of the stabbing. Despite all these strikes against her, Luella Taylor was found not guilty and her defense of self protection was accepted.
Filameno Rocha was one of about twenty Mexican men who were working for the Alton railroad and living in two train cars. On the night that Hill Cisneros' murder was reported, the men were roused from a "drunken sleep" and 17 were rounded up and taken to the jail. The arrests were complicated by the fact that the police or the suspects did not speak a language in common. The men were put into a line up and two women who had been found in the train car with the men, were asked to identify who killed Hill Cisneros. Elma Hawkins, an African American woman aged 18, said she had seen the stabbing. At the line up she said "He's not here." The police then found out that there were two more men who had been living in the train cars. They were hunted down and brought in. Elma Hawkins then identified Filomeno Rocha as the attacker in another line up (his blood stained clothing could have been a clue). All of the Mexican workers and the two "colored" women were locked up in the jail as witnesses, even though the second "colored" woman stated that she was in the second rail car and saw nothing and roughly half the men would have been in the second rail car as well.
At his trial two weeks later, Rocha was represented by Walter Will and Lewis Probasco in his murder trial. The Vice Consul of Mexico from Chicago was also present for the trial. The only time a courtroom interpreter was mentioned as assisting Rocha was during his own testimony. The rest of the trial was a blur to this man who spoke no English. Elma Hawkins, although she was the only witness to the stabbing, was not mentioned as a trial witness. Whether Rocha had any ability to assist his attorneys in his defense is unclear. As a result of the first trial, Rocha was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
His attorneys immediately moved for a second trial and at this trial Rocha plead guilty to manslaughter. The court also found that the evidence of his clothing had been admitted in error and that the instructions to the jury regarding "reasonable doubt" had been unfair. Rocha's new sentence of 1 year to 14 years made him eligible for parole in eleven months. He may have had better translation assistance during the second trial, because he left shaking hands with everyone and smiling at his good fortune. A speedy trial was not necessarily a benefit to Mr. Rocha!