Robert M. Toms

Robert M. Toms (October 14, 1886 - April 7, 1960 ) was an American jurist, actor, He was born to Frank P. Toms and Lark (Looney) Toms. Toms' grandfather was one of the pioneer settlers in Oakland County, Michigan. He attended the public schools of Chicago and earned an A.B. degree from University of Chicago in 1907 He married Gladys B. Wetmore November 11, 1914

in the 1918 Michigan Bench & Bar Journal he was listed as member of the Detroit Bar Association, Corinthian Lodge, F. & A.M., Detroit Board of Commerce, Fellowcraft Club, Sigma Alpha Epsilon He was appointed to replace Leopold A. Kosolnski. In 1920 he was appointed to become chief assistant prosecutor under Paul W. Voorhies. The primary election for the Republican nomination was stuck in legal battles. It was accused that Judge Kolowich paid policemen $1 each to divert cases to his court.

1924 Run for Prosecuting Attorney Robert M. Toms 1924 ad for Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney In 1924 Toms once again ran for the office of Wayne County Prosecuting attorney. He ran in a primary against 6 other men.

Frederick B Brown Robert M. Toms Oscar A. Riopelle Frank C. Sibley Elton R. Nellis William J. Harcourt Charles P. O'Neil The Election came down to Louis W. McClear(D) and Toms(R). During the election there was a question if Toms was affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan. Toms denied "that he has ever had any affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan," and said "that he has never desired to capitalize [on] religious or racial differences for his own political purposes." Tom spent $2,361.27 for the committee to elect him, $691.27 came from people in the Prosecutor office, $66.27 came from himself. The votes were 272,327 for Toms and only 45,426 for McClear.

Toms was the first prosecutor to appoint a non-white assistant prosecuting attorney. He appointed Lloyd A. Loomis who was the first African American appointed as prosecutor staff in Wayne County Michigan.

While in office Toms' car was stolen while his wife was taking their daughter Margaret to the doctors office; this was between Woodward and John R Street. The car was found a week later near Dexter Boulevard where the police found fishing tackle that was left behind by the person who took the car. His car was stolen again when he and his wife were attending the theater; this was after he locked his car and removed the distributor from it.

Judge of Recorders Court Candidate In 1915, Toms ran as the Republican candidate for Recorders Court. He lost the election to William F. Connolly, who got 20,387 votes to Toms 12,347 votes. Robert M. Toms was the candidate with the 14th highest vote count.

In the general election Toms came in at 8th place for the judgeship with a total of 101,249 votes.

Prior to taking office, a story broke that out of the Record Court under Judge Frank Murphy (who went on to be a Governor of Michigan, and Supreme Court Justice) that 75 Court Cases' files vanished, making it impossible to prosecute charges. Of those cases, 64 were for defendants that had been accused of violating the prohibition laws. Other case files missing were for breaking and entering, malfeasance in office, bribery, soliciting personal injury claim, gambling law violations, obstructing, uttering and publishing, and embezzlement. Tom's election to office was supposed to start his term on January 1, 1930.

Sweet Trials 1925-26 Toms was the prosecutor for the Dr. Ossian Sweet & Henry Sweet trials. The case was tried before judge Frank Murphy. Dr. Sweet was a black Detroit physician who spent time studying in Vienna & Paris where he spent time working with Marie Curie. Not wanting to live in the slums in red-lined housing areas he and a friend bought homes in white neighborhoods but had to leave them because of white hostility.

He found a home located at 29058 Garland Avenue in one of the lower-middle-class white neighborhoods. The seller of the home was a white woman and a black husband. He thought this was would help him be accepted by the neighbors. The Sweet family moved in on September 8, 1925.

At the time, the Ku Klux Klan was very active in the area. A large crowd started to gather and turned into a mob. After a while, the mob had dispersed, and the next night a new one formed. It is unclear how many people were there, but it is suspected that it was a few hundred people. The Sweets had ten other friends in the house. The mob started to grow, and people started throwing rocks and breaking windows of the home. Gunfire broke out from several windows of the house. In the background, Leon Breiner was shot and killed. The police broke into the house and arrested all 11 occupants.

Then Toms got indictments against the 11 occupants for conspiracy to commit murder. The defendants went to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People who contracted Clarence Darrow to provide the defense.

One of the trial strategies of Toms that has been criticized was his use of seventy-five witnesses to testify the absence of a crowd. Some have stated "Much of the prosecution's case consisted of the testimony of seventy-five witnesses who swore they saw no crowds near the Sweets' house on the night of 9 September. Apparently, the irony of having seventy-five witnesses testify to the absence of a crowd was lost on the prosecution."

An all-white jury deliberated for three days and could not reach a verdict; the judge declared a mistrial. In April 1926, Toms indicted Henry Sweet, who admitted to firing the gun. The second trial was for murder. Sweet was acquitted, and then Toms moved to dismiss the charges against all defendants.

Clarence Darrow after the trial would describe Toms in the following way "as one of the fairest and most humane prosecutors that I ever met."

Nuremberg Trials Judge Robert M. Toms at the Palace of Justice, Nuremberg during the Milch Trial, 2 January 1947-17 April 1947 (second of the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials) The judges of the Nuremberg Military Tribunal II, Case IV: „Pohl Case“ or „WHVA Case“. From left to right: Donald Phillips, Robert M. Toms (presiding judge), Michael A. Musmanno, John J. Speight (alternate judge). This photograph was taken by US Army photographers on behalf of the Office of Chief of Counsel for War Crimes (OCCWC) during the trial. President Harry S. Truman the 33rd President of the United States appointed Toms as member of the Military Tribunal established for the Trial and Punishments of Major War Criminals in Germany under Executive order 9819. He oversaw the trial of Erhard Milch and sentenced him to life in prison. He also tried 18 concentration camp commanders and administrators in the Oswald Pohl case. He presided over ten trials. Three commanders were acquitted, four were sentenced to death, three were sentenced to life imprisonment, and eight were given sentences ranging from 10-years to 25 years.

When Judge Toms returned from his time in Germany he said the uniform defense of the German defendants was "I was ordered to do it; I was just a little man following the orders of my superiors.

While not required to give up his pay to the county while he was on leave of absence to serve the Federal Government; he returned the $5,338.39 which represented the full amount of his pay less taxes for his work on the U.S. War Crimes Tribunal at Nurnberg Germany.

Actor Toms was an active actor for many years in local plays. While assistant prosecuting attorney for Wayne County he played the part of Father Time in the play The Blue Bird (play) by Maurice Maeterlinck for three nights.

Song writer He wrote "I Kinda Like Ann Arbor" and other campus songs. He was opposed to it on moral grounds and efficacy.