James Edwin Horton

His family bible shows he was born in Limestone County, AL. At some point during his childhood he moved to Athens, Alabama.

After a year Horton decided that medicine was not for him and transferred to Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee and gained his B.A.

However, much to the prosecution's dismay, Judge Horton issued a startling rebuke to the State's case after a conviction and death penalty were handed down against Haywood Patterson.

To quote: History, sacred and profane, and the common experience of mankind teach us that women of the character shown in this case are prone for selfish reasons to make false accusations both of rape and of insult upon the slightest provocation for ulterior purposes.

This tendency on the part of the women shows that they are predisposed to make false accusations upon any occasion whereby their selfish ends may be gained.

As heretofore stated the law declares that a defendant should not be convicted without corroboration where the testimony of the prosecutrix bears on its face indications of improbability or unreliability and particularly when it is contradicted by other evidence.

He is immortalized in a bronze plaque on a wall just outside of the courtroom where he heard the Scottsboro cases:So far as the law is concerned it knows neither native nor alien, Jew nor Gentile, black nor white.

A statue of Judge Horton, made of bronze, stands on the west side of the Limestone County courthouse.

Several members of the local community initiated the Judge Horton statue project, which was completed and unveiled in October 2017.