It's fitting that the likeness of Judge James Edwin Horton Jr. appears humble because that's how he was in life, his granddaughter said Thursday at the unveiling of the bronze statue. Horton's grandchildren and great-grandchildren were in downtown Athens for the event honoring Horton, a white judge who lost his career defending a black man.

"This is more than I could ever imagine," said granddaughter Kathy Horton. Horton's sons - Ed, Don and Mac - have passed away but Ed's widow, Katherine Horton, was at the ceremony and pulled the cover from the statue of her father-in-law to reveal it to the public. The judge made the pivotal decision in 1933 to overturn the guilty verdict rendered by an all-white jury in the trial of Haywood Patterson, one of nine defendants in the infamous Scottsboro Boys case. Click here to read about the case. The trial was held in Decatur but the decision was written in the Limestone County Courthouse, just blocks from Horton's home in downtown Athens.

Eighty-four years later, Horton is celebrated as an early civil rights hero for doing what was right when no one else would.

The statue

The life-size statue shows Horton in a suit, with his hands clasped behind his back, in an unpretentious pose. Kathy Horton said an initial design of the statue showed Horton with his chin up, looking proud. "That wasn't our grandfather, so they dropped his chin," she said.

It was created by renowned Mobile sculptor Casey Downing Jr., who attended the unveiling.

The Limestone County Bar Association decided to erect the statue and the Judge Horton Monument Committee was established to raise the $60,000 needed in private donations. No government funds were used for the project. The Limestone County Historical Society erected the marker explaining the judge's role in the Scottsboro Boys case.

Former Judge Jimmy Woodroof spoke at the unveiling, saying people would learn Horton's story when they walk past the statue and the accompanying historical marker to enter the courthouse. "Let it always serve as a reminder," he said. He described Horton as a good and kind man who did the right thing, knowing it would be an unpopular decision and that he would not be re-elected.

The decision

Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks said, "Judge Horton got up that morning and walked here to make a decision that changed history forever."

In his written decision, Horton said the testimony of Victoria Price - one of two women to accuse Patterson and eight other young black men of rape - was not only "uncorroborated, but it also bears on its face indications of improbability and is contradicted by other evidence..."

Speaker and historian Chris Paysinger reminded people that the decision meant Horton would stand against the beliefs of most white people in his community. "Judge Horton knew too well the realities of the Jim Crow south in 1933." Paysinger defined "bravery" as Horton's act to serve justice when he knew the consequences would hurt him personally. The historical marker beside the statue says, "Horton faced threats on his life and his name became a lightning rod for supremacists who labeled him a traitor for overcoming the verdict."

Horton was ousted from the bench in the next election by voters angry that he sided with a black man, no matter what the evidence showed. Ruby Bates, the second accuser, later recanted her testimony about the rape and people began to believe, as Horton had, that the young men were innocent. In 2013, Gov. Robert Bentley formally pardoned the nine men, eight of whom spent time in prison and whose lives were ruined by the case. Read about the pardon by clicking here.