Second Season of A Crime to Remember Silences Ruby McCollum

Tampa, Florida, November 25, 2014 (Newswire.com) - Season 2 of A Crime to Remember appearing on the Discovery ID channel promises viewers historical accuracy

But, instead of staying true to the facts, the producers of “The Shot Doctor,” the second episode in the second season of Discovery ID’s “A Crime to Remember,” edit out the historically significant testimony of Ruby McCollum during her trial in favor of a narrator stating, “She was not allowed to answer 37 times,” then a fictional narrator declares, “And this silencing of Ruby kept her from telling her side of the story, has led to speculation that there was something even more duplicitous, like maybe she didn’t even shoot Doc Adams at all.” Next, two narrators bring up speculation that “some other dude did it,” reflecting the gossip around the town, supported with absolutely no evidence. Then, a final fictional narrator asks, “What does it mean to defend yourself in a Court of law when you aren’t allowed to speak?” This question inexorably leads viewers to believe that Ruby McCollum was not allowed to testify a single word in her own defense.

Discovery ID has succeeded in silencing Ruby McCollum more effectively than the prosecution did during her testimonyl, thereby destroying her contribution to a landmark trial.

Dr. C. Athur Ellis, Jr., PhD, Author and historian

Truth is, Ruby McCollum, in spite of numerous objections from the prosecution, was allowed to extensively describe her sexual encounters with Dr. Adams, to state that she was pregnant with his child, that she had asked for a diaphragm to avoid another pregnancy, that she was drugged by him as well as in prison, and that she shot him in self-defense. This was powerful, unprecedented testimony, since a “colored” woman had never been allowed to testify in her own defense against a white man who forced her to have his child.

Dr. C. Arthur Ellis, Jr., the only guest on the program who knew all of the characters in this true-crime story, is the author of an annotated transcript of the trial. Since he is intimately familiar with the trial and the events leading up to the murder, he was confounded by the episode. Ellis stated, “I can’t believe that I was cut off immediately after saying that ‘This was the trial that shook the foundations of the Segregationist South.’ The series’ producers chose to strip this story of fact by editing out the remainder of my statement about McCollum’s testimony in favor of sensationalizing the murder by maintaining that she was totally silenced on the stand. Aside from being factually inaccurate, editing out any reference to her testifying in her own defense in spite of numerous sustained objections effectively silences McCollum more than the prosecution was ever able to do during her trial, and destroys her contribution to a landmark trial that set legal precedent for other black women to be able to defend themselves when they were forced to have the children of white men.”