In To Kill a Mockingbird, who were the four witnesses at Tom Robinson's trial?

A

witness is defined as anyone who can present evidence in a
case
("Witness," West's Encyclopedia of American Law,
2nd. ed.). In
Harper Lee's , Tom Robinson's trial was
extremely unusual due to
lack of evidence and
the fact that only two out of four people who
testified at the trial can
genuinely be considered witnesses,
though the
plaintiff and the defendant of a case certainly can testify as

witnesses.

In the case, Mayella
Ewell is
considered the
plaintiff, the person who is accusing another of

wrongdoing. Tom Robinson is considered the

defendant, the person who is being accused of a crime or
offense
and is denying involvement (West's Encyclopedia of American
Law, 2nd. ed.).
Both the plaintiff and the defendant certainly
can serve as
witnesses by taking the witness
stand to state their own testimonies of what
occurred; however, their
testimonies are given less weight than the testimonies of actual
witnesses,
and the burden of proof always rests on the plaintiff. In other words, it would
have
been Mayella's responsibility to prove the crime actually took place,
and her own
testimony alone would
not serve as proof. In the
case, both Mayella
and Robinson served as witnesses by taking the stand. While it is more common

for plaintiffs to take the witness stand, it is less common for defendants to take the
witness
stand, and defendants are Constitutionally protected from having to
do so. Often, a defense
lawyer will not call a defendant to the witness stand
should he/she say something that damages
the case under cross-examination by
the prosecuting attorney. However, in this case,felt he had
no witness to
call other than Robinson himself.

One
key
witness in the trial is Sheriff Heck
Tate, who
testifies having seen Mayella looking very beaten
up. Sheriff Tate gives two crucial statements
that give Atticus
grounds to motion to dismiss the case, a motion

he sadly does not make. Sheriff's first crucial statement is that a doctor was not
summoned to
examine Mayella on the evening in question. Sheriff Tate states
the following to Atticus in
defense of having not called a doctor:

It wasn't
necessary, Mr. Finch. She was mighty
banged up. Something sho' happened, it was obvious. (Ch.
16)

However, Mayella isn't just accusing Robinson of

having abused her; she is accusing him of having raped her, and based on the
principle
corpus delicti, meaning body of the crime, it
is illegal to try a defendant
without concrete evidence that the crime
actually took place. A doctor's testimony would be
essential for Mayella's
proof, and without such proof, the case could have legally been
dismissed.
The second crucial statement Sheriff Tate makes is that Mayella was bruised in
her
right eye, which could have only been accomplished by a left-handed
person facing her. Since
Robinson is crippled in his left arm and hand, this
second statement of Sherrif Tate's also
gives Atticus grounds
to motion to dismiss the case, which he sadly
does not
do.

Last, Bob Ewell, Mayella's
father,
serves as the only eyewitness in the
trial. He testifies hearing
Mayella scream inside the house and running up to
the window to see "that black nigger
yonder ruttin' on my Mayella" (Ch. 16).
However, Ewell's testimony is later
contradicted
by Mayella's own testimony, in which says she saw her father
"standing over
[her] hollerin' who done it, who done it?" (Ch. 18). If Ewell had truly

witnessed the event, he would have had no reason to ask Mayella who the culprit was,
which helps
to expose the Ewells' lies.

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