Bob Ewell decided to hold the trial because he knew that he would win due to his skin color. In the 1930s, no colored person ever won a case and Tom Robinson was not going to be an exception. From my interpretation of the case it seems that Bob might have even thought that the town would appreciate him more for ‘saving them from a colored rapist’. At the end of chapter 26, Scout says that “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.” (Lee, 1960, pg. 276) This quote shows just how unfair the trial was. Everyone knew that Tom Robinson would be charged guilty because he is black and the Ewells are white.
