Biography
McKinley Forrest was arrested on February 10, 1948.
Trenton Six defendant. Acquitted on retrial 1951.
The May 23, 1951 National Guardian reports sworn retrial testimony challenging the Trenton Six confessions and describing alleged police coercion and drugging. Forrest described five days of unconsciousness and testimony supporting an alibi. These are attributed testimony; interrogation or blackout lengths are not the person’s entire jail term. This midtrial account does not replace later verdict or release information. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/national-guardian/1951-05-23-3-31-nat-guardian.pdf#page=5
The April 1951 report identifies Ralph J. Smalley as presiding judge and Mario H. Volpe as prosecutor during the Trenton Six retrial.
At the 1951 retrial, the court admitted McKinley Forrest’s typed statement, leaving its voluntariness for the jury.
William A. Reuben’s April 4, 1951 National Guardian retrial report attributes an individual arrest chronology to the police witnesses: Forrest was arrested on February 7, 1948 at the police station, where he had brought the automobile keys and asked to see his brother-in-law Collis English. This chronology differs from the previously recorded common February 10 date; the conflicting reports are preserved here without changing the case date or calculating a new custody total. The account reports disputed police testimony about the statements, not an independent finding that the confessions were voluntary or true. Contemporary retrial report, printed page 8.
