[3] Sometime around 1819, Robert Newsom left his home state of Virginia and traveled west and eventually settled in Callaway County, Missouri, with his wife and children.
[4] By 1850, Newsom had established himself as a prosperous man in his new home, where he owned eight hundred acres of land, a successful farm, and five male slaves.
[8] Celia made an attempt to reject his predatory advances, and when he refused to back down, she clubbed him over the head with the stick that she had brought into her cabin earlier that day.
[13] Powell questioned George about Newsom's whereabouts, and he told the search party that "it was not worth while to hunt for him anywhere except close around the house.
[15] Celia initially denied any knowledge of what had happened to Newsom, but Powell continued to interrogate her and used accusations and threats to get her to confess.
[20] A six-man inquest jury was summoned to Robert Newsom's estate to hear testimonies from William Powell, Coffee Wainscott, and Celia.
Despite Jones's insistent questioning, Celia repeatedly denied having had any assistance in killing Robert Newsom or in burning his body.
[8] Celia was formally indicted by a grand jury on August 16, 1855, and on the same day, Judge William Augustus Hall appointed her defense team, led by John Jameson.
[8] The defense's cross-examination of Jefferson Jones focused on the sexual relationship between Newsom and Celia, including the fact that "her second child was his" and that "the deceased forced her on the way home from Audrain County.
When questioned about the investigation into her father's disappearance, Wainscott described how she had "hunted on all of the paths and walks and every place for him" before she "learned where the bones were put" on the evening of June 24, 1855.
She described finding bones in the ashes that were found in and around the cabin where Celia lived, as well as a buckle, buttons, and a knife, which she identified as having belonged to her father.
He testified that had been "up in the cherry tree early in the morning grandpa was missing" and that Celia had offered him "two dozen walnuts" if he would carry the ashes out of her cabin.
[14] Powell revealed in his testimony that Celia had confessed to Newsom's murder only after he had threatened her repeatedly and told her "that it would be better for her to tell - that her children would not be taken away from her if she would tell, and that [he] had rope fashioned for her if she would not tell.
"[16] Finally, the prosecution called Dr. Smith and Dr. Young to the stand to examine the bones that had been collected from the ashes in and around Celia's cabin.
The defense posed to Dr. Martin a series of questions designed to establish doubt in the minds of the jurors that Celia unassisted could have killed Newsom and disposed of his body in the manner described by the prosecution.
"[34] With Thomas Shoatman's testimony, the defense attempted to convince the jurors that Celia had been acting in self-defense when she had killed Newsom.
The defense requested for the jury to be instructed that the words "any woman" included enslaved women, and that Celia should not be convicted if it believed that she had been attempting to resist rape when she had killed Newsom.
The instructions that were actually given to the jury did not address the motive for Celia's crime at all or allow for an acquittal based on the idea that she would have been justified in using physical force to resist sexual assault at the hands of her master.
"[40] Judge Hall denied their request and sentenced Celia to be "hanged by the neck until dead on the sixteenth day of November 1855.
At that time, slaveowners were allowed to rape, when the legal status of slaves as property offered few protections or privileges of law.
As Saidiya Hartman states, "As Missouri v. Celia demonstrated, the enslaved could neither give nor refuse consent, nor offer reasonable resistance, yet they were criminally responsible and liable.