William B. Bryant

William Benson Bryant (September 18, 1911 – November 13, 2005) was a United States federal judge and chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the first black chief federal judge.

Born in Wetumpka, Alabama, Bryant studied political science at Howard University, graduating with an A.B. in 1932. Bryant received his law degree from Howard University School of Law, graduating first in his class, in 1939. Following law school, he served as chief research assistant to Ralph Bunche, then Chair of the Department of Political Science at Howard, while Bunche worked with Gunnar Myrdal on his 1944 study of American race relations An American Dilemma.

Bryant served in the United States Army during World War II, from 1943 to 1947, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Bryant entered private practice in Washington, D.C., in 1948. At the time, the D.C. bar was still closed to African Americans. When Bryant left private practice briefly to serve in the U.S. Attorney's office he was one of the first black prosecutors in federal court in Washington, D.C.

Returning to private practice in 1954, he handled a number of prominent cases as a criminal defense lawyer. In 1957, he took a case to the Supreme Court, Mallory v. United States. In the case, Andrew Roosevelt Mallory, 19, had confessed to rape after 7½ hours of interrogation in a police station, was convicted, and sentenced to death. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court overturned Mallory's conviction because his arraignment was not accomplished "without unnecessary delay," violating the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The case's holding formed the basis of the "McNabb-Mallory rule," a U.S. rule of evidence superseded by the broader protections later outlined by the Supreme Court in Miranda v. Arizona. While in private practice, Bryant was also a law professor at Howard.

...
Wikipedia