This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

Petitioners, all students of the Florida A. & M. had gone from the school to the jail about a mile away, along with many other students, to 'demonstrate' at the jail their protests of arrests of other protesting students the day before, and perhaps to protest more generally against state and local policies and practices of racial segregation, including segregation of the jail. The county sheriff tried to persuade the students to leave the jail grounds. The students were directly at the jail entrance and were told to move back. They moved back part of the way but decided to sing, clap and dance on the jail driveway and property. The sheriff notified them that they must leave, that, if they did not leave, he would arrest them for trespassing, and that, if they resisted, he would charge them with resisting arrest. Some of the students left, but others, including petitioners, remained, and they were arrested (107 in all). They were convicted for trespass upon the property of another committed with a malicious and mischievous intent. On appeal, the convictions were affirmed by the Florida Circuit Court and then by the Florida District Court of Appeal.

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