Why isn't Atticus going to win in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Atticus' defense failed because the members of the jury didn't want to convict a white person over a black even with the logic there to support his innocence. If Tom never said "I felt sorry for her," when he was talking about Maybell, then Atticus's defense may have succeded. But back then, no bunch of white men on a jury would say Tom is innocent when he "felt sorry" for a white woman. When he says that, it almost implies that he was better then her and he could feel sorry for her. But in that time a black man should never feel sorry for a white woman because the white woman would always be viewed as better then the black man, no matter what.