Isaac Woodard after his blinding by Lynwood Shull.
After half an hour of deliberation, an all-white federal jury in Columbia found Batesburg sheriff Lynwood Shull not-guilty of beating African American World War II Army veteran Isaac Woodard. Judge J. Waties Waring condemned the jury’s decision. Shull had beaten Woodard after arresting him on a bus in Batesburg on February 12. The attack left Woodard blind. The case sparked national outrage and helped gather support for civil rights legislation.