William Paul Brady was an American lawyer. He served as a district attorney in Reeves County, Texas, where he prosecuted a case that has later been termed a "legal lynching". Later he worked as a judge, in private practice, and in local politics.
Early life and education
Will P. Brady was born on 12 February 1876 in Austin, Texas. His parents, James and Agnes Brady, were early settlers of the city, having arrived five years earlier. Will Brady was one of five children; his siblings were John W., David John, Agnes, and Helen Brady. He was also the uncle of, among others, the philologistCaroline Brady. Brady's brother John W. was also a lawyer and a judge, whose successful career was ended by a three-year prison sentence for murder; the prosecution had sought the death penalty. Brady studied law at the University of Texas. He graduated in 1906 with a Bachelor of Laws.
Career
Brady was appointed the district attorney of Reeves County, Texas, on 3 February 1909 by Governor Thomas Mitchell Campbell. He was the first to take the position, which gave responsibility over the newly-created seventieth judicial district; S. J. Isaacks, a Midland attorney, was named its judge. In 1911, Brady was the district attorney for the prosecution of León Martínez Jr., a case that has since been termed a "legal lynching". After a 26-year-old woman, Emma Brown, was found murdered, Martínez was arrested, largely on the evidence that he had been seen speaking to Brown at the general store the day of the murder. Martínez, who was 15, confessed twice: once, when a posse promised not to hang him until the sheriff arrived if he confessed, and again, when the sheriff threatened to hand Martínez back to the posse if he did not confess. In the early morning of 24 July 1911, two days after the murder, Brady held up Martínez's written confession to the crowd gathered outside the jail. Five days after Martínez's arrest, with Brady prosecuting, a guilty verdict and a death sentence were in hand. After the verdict, according to The Galveston Daily News, "hundreds" of people came up to Brady and Judge Isaacks to shake their hands "for their prompt attention to the case and their narrow avertence of a lynching." Isaacks scheduled the hanging for a month hence, on 1 September. Though a petition, said to be signed by "nearly every person in Reeves county," was sent to the governor asking him to not grant clemency, national and international concern, as well as appeals, including an unsuccessful appeal to the Supreme Court dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, pushed the case into 1914. Brady was said by the El Paso Herald to be "active in pushing the case... towards a carrying out of the judgment of the district court, calling for hanging, as strongly as he knows how" during these proceedings. Martínez was hanged on 11 May 1914. Brady moved to El Paso in 1915, where he later served two terms as judge of the county court. He moved to Los Angeles thereafter, working there and in Santa Barbara as an oil attorney. Moving to Creston around 1931, he served as the local manager for the campaign of Franklin D. Roosevelt for the 1932 presidential election.
