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State of Washington v. Julius Cohn - Notable case from 1928
Case citation: State v. Cohn, 285 P. 665 (Wash. 1930)
The case
In 1928, Julius Cohn, a Jewish man, was charged with sodomy in King County Superior Court.
At the time, sodomy laws criminalized certain sexual acts. Public attitudes toward sexuality were also often conservative.
The case is significant both as:
- An examination of criminal law, specifically sodomy laws (decriminalized in Washington in 1975)
- An example of how ethnic and religious identity can influence legal outcomes
The errors assigned are that appellant was denied a fair trial because of the actions of the prosecuting attorney and because of the attitude and manner of the trial judge.
The prosecutor, in the course of the trial, made certain statements to the effect that the Hebrew race had certain marked racial characteristics; that the accused was a Jew; and suggested that there might be other men of his race who look very much like him, and, on cross-examination, asked one of the witnesses upon this subject if she had ever lived in a Jewish neighborhood.
As to the attitude and manner of the trial court, we can find in the record nothing whatever to criticize or condemn. His action throughout appears to have been above reproach and above any hint of suspicion. We do not find even a straw to grasp at in support of this assignment.
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