The AFTERMATH
Investigations and Trials
Kent State University moved into the national spotlight. The shooting and its aftermath were investigated by the press, committees, and commissions. The Scranton Commission concluded that "the indiscriminate firing of rifles into a crowd of students and the deaths that followed were unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable."
The legal struggle which followed spanned the decade of the seventies. Local, state, and federal courts became involved in extensive criminal and civil proceedings. The first judicial activity involved a State Grand Jury investigation of the shootings. In October of 1970, the Grand Jury issued indictments against 25 individuals, most of whom were Kent students. In the ensuing state criminal trials in late 1971, only three of the defendants were found guilty.
A Federal Grand Jury investigation of the shootings did not begin until December of 1973. In March 1974, the Federal Grand Jury issued indictments against eight of the Ohio National Guard enlisted men but, in the fall of 1974, the judge on th federal criminal trial ordered all charges dropped at mid-trial because of insufficient evidence.
A series of civil law cases began shortly after the criminal trials concluded. The nine wounded students and the parents of the four students who were killed had been prevented for several years from bringing civil action against public officials and members of the Ohio National Guard because of the doctrine of sovereign immunity, a principal that provides that a soverign entity cannot be sued without its consent. This doctrine was modified by the U.S. Supreme Court, however, in the landmark case of Scheuer vs. Rhodes in 1974, thus clearing the way for a federal civil trial in 1975. The parents and wounded students sought $46 million in damages against Ohio Governor James Rhodes, guard officers, guard enlisted men, and Robert White, President of Kent State University in 1970. On August 27, 1975, the jury returned its verdict: by a 9-3 vote, it found none of the defendants liable for damages.
The case was appealed by attorneys for the parents and students, and in September 1977, a three-judge panel of the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a new trial had to be held because the trial judge in the 1975 case had improperly handles a threat to a juror. The appeals court also ordered that former President Robert White be dropped from the list of defendants.
In December of 1978, the retrial began but, under the leadership of Judge William K. Thomas, an out-of-court settlement was reached. The parents, students, and their attorneys received $675,000 paid by the State of Ohio. In addition, the 28 defendants signed the following statement:
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"In retrospect, the tragedy of May 4, 1970, should not have occured. The students may have believed that they were right in continuing their mass protest in response to the Cambodian invasion, even though this protest followed the posting and reading by the University of an order to ban rallies and an order to disperse. These orders have since been determined by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to be lawful. "Some of the guardsmen on Blanket Hill, fearful and anxious from prior events, may have believed in their own minds that their lives were in danger. Hindsight suggests that another method would have solved the confrontation. Better ways must be found to deal with such confrontations. "We devoutly wish that a means had been found to avoid the May 4 events culminating in the guard shootings and the irreversible deaths and injuries. We deeply regret those events and are profoundly saddened by the deaths of four students and the wounding of nine others that resulted. We hope that the agreement to end this litigation will help to assuage the tragic memories regarding that sad day."