'Mississippi Burning' trial and conviction thread

Heavy security as "Mississippi Burning" trial opens

14 June 2005

PHILADELPHIA : The trial of an 80-year-old alleged member of the racist Klu Klux Klan, charged with killing three civil rights workers in Mississippi 41 years ago, opened on Monday amid tight security.

The deaths of Michael Schwerner, 24, Andy Goodman, 20, and James Chaney, 21, garnered a world audience with the Hollywood movie "Mississippi Burning."

Now the trial of Edgar Ray Killen is shining a fresh spotlight on the southern state's painful past.

Reflecting the emotionally charged nature of the case, roads around the courthouse in the small Mississippi town of Philadelphia were cut off as potential jurors arrived under police surveillance.

After a jury is chosen, opening arguments are expected to start on Wednesday. Lawyers said the trial would last several weeks.

Among those expected to testify are the mothers of Goodman and Chaney and the widow of Schwerner, who had lived for six months in Mississippi before his death.

Killen, once a sawmill operator and part-time Baptist minister, was arrested in January and charged with organising the murders.

He suffered two broken legs in a fall in March and he will have a private room with a bed at the court for use throughout the trial. He was brought to court in a wheelchair and did not speak to reporters.

Killen has pleaded not guilty and has said his "conscience is clear" in interviews about events 40 years ago when he was alleged to be a member of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan organisation.

Attorney General Jim Hood, who is prosecuting the case, said jury selection is going "a little slow," but he expects the trial to last ten or 12 days.

Killen's attorney, James McIntyre, told CNN that the trial marked "a sad day" in state history.

"Mississippi needs to move forward, not backward. This matter was closed some 40 years ago. The state is attempting to open old wounds," McIntyre said.

Ben Chaney, the brother of James Chaney, said: "I'm ready for the truth."

"I hope this process provides an opening for closure, an opening for truth," the victim's brother said as he attended Monday's proceedings.

Chaney, who said a trial was needed for all those who participated in his brother's killing, also called for a probe into the state for potentially hindering prosecutions.

"Freedom Summer" in 1964 drew thousands of activists from northern US states, mostly young whites, to the racially segregated south in an attempt to bring social change by registering blacks to vote.

Schwerner and Goodman were young white men from New York who teamed up with Chaney, a black activist from Mississippi. The three were returning from a black church that had been burned down when they were arrested on June 21 and accused of speeding.

After several hours in Philadelphia's police station they were released in the dead of night. Following a terrifying chase, two carloads of men - Klan members and police - ambushed them.

Their bodies, beaten and riddled with bullets, were dumped under an earth dam and only found 44 days later following an intense FBI manhunt.

Amid hostile silence from locals and under smothering heat, federal agents carried out a dogged investigation, evoked on screen in Alan Parker's 1988 "Mississippi Burning" starring Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe.

Eighteen clan members including Killen were indicted in 1964. Seven were convicted by an all-white jury of violating the dead men's civil rights and sentenced in 1967 to prison terms of three to 10 years.

But Killen was acquitted. A woman on the jury said she could not bring herself to condemn a preacher.

The case was reopened in 2004 and Killen is now accused of orchestrating the murders, but the men suspected of carrying them out, according to witness accounts, are no longer alive.

The Ku Klux Klan says it has told members to stay away from the trial.

"If there's any Klan protest, it won't be any of us," said Richard Greene, Imperial Wizard of the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. "We don't believe it's appropriate. A man's life is at stake here."

However, a man identified as J.J. Harper handed out business cards identifying himself as imperial wizard of the American White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, greeted Killan and offered words of encouragement outside the courthouse. - AFP/de

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Accused Klansman organized 1964 murders-prosecutor
Wed Jun 15, 2005 08:23 PM ET

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (Reuters) - Mississippi's top law official on Wednesday opened the murder trial of Edgar Ray Killen by saying the suspected Ku Klux Klansman was the driving force behind the slayings of three civil rights workers more than four decades ago.
Reopening a case that helped galvanize the U.S. civil rights movement, state Attorney General Jim Hood said the 80-year-old defendant organized the carloads of Klansmen who abducted and shot Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney outside Philadelphia, Mississippi, on June 21, 1964.

Witnesses will "speak from the grave," said Hood, as he told jurors of the prosecution's plans to admit into evidence testimony from Killen's 1967 federal conspiracy trial.

Four blacks are among the 17 people who will hear the case. Twelve of them will be designated as jurors and the other five will be alternates.

The defense wants to exclude testimony from the 1967 trial and motions on its admissibility were to be heard on Thursday.

Killen, an ordained Baptist minister who has pleaded not guilty, was among a group of men tried for federal civil rights violations in 1967 in connection with the slayings. The case became a rallying point for the civil rights movement and was dramatized in the 1988 movie "Mississippi Burning."

Schwerner, Goodman and Chaney, all in their 20s, were killed during the "Freedom Summer" campaign to register Southern blacks to vote.

Seven of Killen's co-defendants in 1967 were convicted and sentenced to prison terms of between three and 10 years but his trial ended in a hung jury after a lone holdout said she could never convict a preacher.

In his opening statement on Wednesday, defense attorney Mitch Moran denied that his client played a part in the murders and urged jurors not to be moved by evidence of Killen's involvement with the Klan.

"The Klan's not on trial here," said Moran, who described the 1964 murders as a terrible act. "When you hear about it, it's awful but we're here to decide if Edgar Killen is guilty of these crimes."

Opening arguments came five months after Killen was arrested near Philadelphia and charged with three counts of murder. He is the first person to be tried by the state for the crime.

State prosecutors did not go after any of the original suspects in the 1960s, perhaps swayed by the realization that no jury in Mississippi had at that time ever convicted whites for killing blacks or civil rights workers.

Killen's arrest followed the reopening of the state's long-dormant investigation into the slayings. His trial is expected to last about three weeks.

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It's an important trial. I have been following, just too busy to comment before now.

Wow.
That is a horrible story. I do remember hearing something about this before and you are right Reyn. MJ has the spotlight and it is too big to allow news coverage of other, more important stories.

I hate to hear about members of the KKK having been ' let off ' of charges 20-30+ years ago because there wasnt a supposed -SYSTEM- in place.
That is such crap. There was a system in place. White were innocent, Blacks were the free for all targets. Why cant someone just admit that was what was going on instead of making excuses and reasons about laws?
We are over those times now. Noone still has to lie for them or about them.

I learned about this first from the movie (sort of sad, don't you think?) and I am so glad they are finally going to make this man stand trial. If he is innocent (HA!) then he will go free as he should. And if he is guilty, he will get his due.

It's just a terrible reminder of how ingnorant and savage we as a country were only 40 years ago. And it makes me wonder how far we've really come. Racism is still alive, just better guarded.

Edgar - I thought that you would be following it and that might be the case! I'll keep it on my radar and follow-up.

shewolf - It is a horrible story from a very backward time. In some ways, things are better in some areas, but I rather wonder if the deep south has changed much at all. Here in Canada, with increased immigration, we have a growing problem, too, especially with East Indian prejudice. I live in a community with a large population of such.

Bella - Don't feel bad. I'm sure that there are many in the same boat. People of Edgar's and mine generation remember, because we were of a certain age when this happened.

Thanks for everyone taking an interest! I'm going to keep loking for different reactions to this trial from different areas of the country.

I will be posting a mixture of information from various sources for this trial within this thread. The below and the next few posts are local reaction and background to the proceedings. Comments are appreciated.

Killen in 'good condition' in ICU; jury to be free for Father's Day

The Neshoba Democrat
Thursday, June 16, 2005
By DEBBIE BURT MYERS

Edgar Ray Killen was listed in good condition after being taken by ambulance to the Neshoba County General Hospital after leaving the courthouse this morning complaining of discomforts in his chest and a headache, the attending physical said.

Dr. Patrick Eakes, an internal medicine specialist, said the 80-year-old Killen was being monitored in the intensive care unit as a precaution.

Killen's triple murder trial was recessed until 8:30 a.m. Friday after he was taken to the hospital.

Shortly after 1 p.m. Judge Marcus Gordon announced outside the jury's presence that the 80-year-old Killen remained in the hospital and was undergoing a series of tests which had to be completed before his physician could make a prognosis.

Gordon said Killen's physician was to notify him first thing Friday of his condition.

When the jury returned to the courtroom, Gordon told the group they would be in recess because of unexpected developments, which he had no control over.

The judge brought smiles to many of the jurors after informing them that they would be permitted to return home Saturday for the Father's Day weekend.

He said court would recess at noon on Saturday and they would be dismissed to return on Monday.

Killen will stay in ICU overnight and if he does well he will be released in the morning, Eakes said.

Eakes and hospital administrator Lonnie Graeber spoke with reporters about Killen's condition during a 2:30 p.m. press conference in the media center.

Killen's blood pressure was elevated when he was brought into the emergency room, the doctor said.

The doctor said stress could have triggered his condition but noted that Killen has a history of hypertension for which he takes medication.

In treating Killen, Eakes said his age and the injuries he suffered in a logging accident in March must be considered.

Eakes said he would keep any patient overnight who came into the emergency room with the same symptoms.

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Killen taken by ambulance from courthouse; proceedings delayed
Accused murderer Edgar Ray Killen peers downward while being rolled away from the Neshoba County Courthouse by his step-son Jerry Edwards after the second day of jury selection in Philadelphia on Tuesday. The jury selection in Killen's trial is slated to be finished this morning. Testimony could start today. with his trial beginning at 2 p.m. Killen is accused of planning the murders of three civil rights workers in Neshoba County in 1964, dramatized in the movie 'Mississippi Burning'.

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It looks like the media will have a field day with this Killen trial. It's attracting a lot of attention. See below.

Media descend for trialSource[/color]

You sure are focused on this trial, Reyn. Seems it never reyns but what it pours. I remember those days all to vividly. While i understand the need to pursue this, it is too close to my personal experience of life for me to want to relive it.

Sorry, this article is out of date order.

Testimony could start today in Killen trialSource[/color]

I posted something about this on the Mr. Piffka quotes thread yesterday, or the day before.

I used to live in a housing co-op where the floors in one building were C,S and G, for Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman. This case was part of our daily life there in the late 1970's. There were slightly older people living there who'd been in 'the movement' in the states at the times of the murders.

I find this trial quite interesting, and I think it's important that it's covered well. Even though I was only 13 in 1964, I can remember the news coverage.

To my way of thinking, with the amount of time that has passed, it's even more urgent that justice be done. It's no different with some of the Nazi war criminals that have been caught over the past decades. Same kind of idea, so to speak.

By the way, on a personal note, 'Reyn' is pronounced as 'wren', like the bird. Not as 'rain'. :wink:

<accidental duplicate post deleted>

Thanks for your input Beth. Very interesting. I hope you will comment from time to time.

By the way, would love some Canadian comment HERE , if you're interested.

I was just funnin' ya, Boss, havin' a little word play there.

I lived in the South then, and the turmoil was not limited to the areas which grabbed the most headlines. The murder of the mother from Michigan haunted me for years, because i felt she was an innocent who, while living fully up to her ideals, really had no clue what she faced. Many, perhaps most, Southerners saw the justice of the Civil Rights movement, but they were silenced by the hostility of a vocal few with strong political connections. It is a subject which wrenches at many hearts. Although i lived most of my young life in the South, the fact that i had been born in New York was sufficient to be the target of sudden and viciously hateful attacks by kids i'd known all my life. It was a horrible time for all involved, except for the few loonies who made it such a nightmare.

I fully agree, hunt 'em down, lock 'em up, throw away the key.

Background to the murder of the three civil rights workers.

44 DAYS IN 1964

Bodies of missing trio found buried in levee /August 6, 1964

The Neshoba Democrat
Wednesday, June 09, 2004

The bodies of three missing civil rights workers who disappeared here on June 21 were uncovered in a dam of a pond by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday Aug. 4. Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, both white, of New York and James Chaney, Negro, of Meridian, were last seen leaving Philadelphia on June 21 after paying a fine for speeding.

The bodies were found buried about 17 feet under the levee of the pond. It was learned that the dragline was moved into the area sometime Tuesday, thereby leaving the impression that the agents were fairly sure of what they would find.

The bodies of Schwerner and Goodman were positively identified by the FBI, and Chaney is expected to be shortly, it was learned. The FBI Office in Jackson said the intensive search by agents, the Highway Patrol and Sailors from the Naval Air Station in Meridian helped lead to the discovery. The fact that the dam was built only recently caused the agents to concentrate their search at the spot.

As soon as the announcement was made that the bodies had been found, a blockade of FBI agents and Highway Patrol was thrown up around the entire area.

Coroner Fulton Jackson impaneled a jury Wednesday morning and visited the scene, but the bodies by that time had been removed to University Hospital in Jackson for examination. The coroner's jury was composed of Jack Thrash, H. C. Breazeale, E. C. Parker, Jack Weatherford, Joe Coghlan, and S. B. Simmons.

Coroner Jackson said he would not release any information or make any announcement as to the cause of the trio's death until the report from Jackson was furnished his office.

It is believed that the trio was shot, either with a rifle or pistol, and it was learned that bullets were found in each of the three bodies. This information was learned by a very reliable source, who's identity cannot be revealed at this time. The bodies were not mutilated in any way, the source said.

The FBI would not say whether any arrests would be made at this time and would not name any suspects.

The first word of the finding of the bodies was heard over television about 6:45 Tuesday evening, when the regular program at that hour was interrupted.

The farm on which the bodies were found is known as the old John Townsend place, but owned now by Mr. Burrage.

The FBI said an announcement would be made as soon as possible on the exact causes of death, which would come some time after the completion of the autopsy in Jackson.

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Historical context of 1964 civil rights murdersSource[/color]

More background before the bodies of the civil rights workers were found.

Missing auto of trio found by FBI Tuesday (1964)

The Neshoba democrat
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
June 25, 1964

The car driven by three integrationists who disappeared after being arrested last Sunday night here has been found by Federal Bureau of Investigation officers about 13 miles from Philadelphia, in the northeast corner of Neshoba County.

The car, a 1963 or 1964 Ford station wagon, was located in heavy sweetgum growth on Highway 21, about 100 feet from the Bogue Chitto creek and about 100 feet off the highway. The station wagon had been burned.

The whereabouts of the three persons arrested in the car Sunday night, Andy Goodman, 20, and Michael Schwerner, 24, both white, of New York, and Negro James Chaney, 21, of Meridian, is still unknown. FBI agents, the Mississippi Highway Patrol and the Neshoba County Sheriff's office are continuing the search for the three who were arrested for speeding Sunday night about 6:00 o'clock and fined $20.00. Chaney was driving the car when stopped by [a sheriff's deputy]. The three paid the fine and were released about 10:30 p.m., said [the deputy].

He said they signed a release slip at the county jail and that he followed them to the intersection of Main Street and Highway 19, the route to Meridian, from where the trio had come Sunday. The two New Yorkers and Meridianite said they were here to investigate the burning of the Mt. Zion Negro church last Tuesday night.

The search for the three has been underway since they were reported missing by the Congress of Federated Organizations (COFO) in New York Monday morning. It has not been established yet what caused the church to burn. Three Negroes were reported to have been beaten by about 300 white persons the same night, but no report was made to local law enforcement officers, either about the fire or the beatings. The church is located about 12 miles east of Philadelphia near the Longdale community which is predominantly Negro.

After finding the burned station wagon about 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, the FBI roped off the area and took every clue from the car and area which might give them a clue as to what might have happened to the three occupants. Impressions of footprints near the car were made and the contents of the burned car were carefully collected by the agents. They would not reveal how they found the vehicle or what led them to its location. Rumors were that a passerby found it and reported it to the Meridian office of the FBI. There were other rumors that a helicopter located it and still another was that a resident in the area notified the officers.

At one time there were between 12 and 15 FBI agents investigating the car and immediate area. After they were through scrutinizing the vehicle, about 5:30 p.m., they started a search in the area for the three missing men. However, it was becoming cloudy and rain started to fall and most of them came back to their autos on the highway.

The automobile had a Hinds County tag, number H25503, and was reported to be registered to CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) in Canton.

Neshoba County Sheriff Lawrence Rainey was not present when the trio was arrested. He was in Meridian where his wife had undergone an operation a few days before.

Out-of-town and out-of-state newsmen began pouring into Philadelphia Monday and continued through yesterday, (Wednesday). Among them were reporters from the Associated Press, United Press-International, the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Minneapolis Times, Newsweek, Life, CBS and NBC television, WDSU-TV New Orleans and several others.

The two missing white men are both from New York, Goodman from Queens and Schwerner from Brooklyn. Schwerner has been in Meridian for about six months, it was reported, while Goodman is a "student volunteer" who had been in Meridian for only a few days. Chaney is a resident of Meridian. The city of Meridian is one of the centers in the state from which the COFO has headquarters for the summer.

Mississippi Highway patrolmen started pouring into Philadelphia Tuesday afternoon and by Wednesday there was an estimated 200 in the area. Negro James Farmer, national director of CORE, of Washington, D.C., was expected in Meridian Tuesday night, it was reported, to help with the investigation. Just what authority he has or would have was not learned.

The search for the missing trio continues in the county, with the FBI, Highway Patrol and local officers centering their activities Wednesday afternoon in the area where the car was found and between Philadelphia and Meridian on Highway 19.

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