Kennon C. Whittle

Kennon Caithness Whittle (October 12, 1891 to November 10, 1967) was born in Martinsville, Virginia. His father was Stafford G. Whittle, who was on the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals from 1901 to 1919. Kennon Whittle attended elementary school in Martinsville and received an LL. B. from Washington and Lee University in 1914. Following his graduation Whittle was admitted to the bar and began practice in Martinsville. Whittle was president of The Virginia Bar Association for 1940-41. In 1944, he was appointed judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit and, in 1951, was elected to the Supreme Court of Appeals. He served on the Supreme Court until he retired on February 1, 1965. He received an honorary LL. D. from Washington and Lee in 1950 and he was a member of Phi Delta Phi.

Judge Whittle became controversial when he oversaw the trial of the "Martinsville Seven," a group of seven black men who were accused of raping a white woman in January 1949. Ruby Floyd accused the seven men of raping her but the evidence was inconclusive. Nevertheless, the seven men were found guilty and were sentenced to death. The NAACP campaigned against the verdicts, arguing that the sentences violated the equal-protection provisions of the U.S. Constitution. (No white man had ever been sentenced to death in Virginia for rape.) Nevertheless, all seven men were executed in 1951.

Justice Kennon Whittle was married to the former Mary Holt Spencer, whose sister Blanche married Julian Robertson of Salisbury, North Carolina. Robertson was a prominent textile company executive, private investor and philanthropist.