Posted on 02/11/2005 8:12:55 PM PST by WKB
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Edgar Ray Killen, the reputed Klansman accused of killing three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964, says he knew nothing about the deaths until he heard media reports about the case. Killen was interviewed by Jackson television station W-J-T-V, which began airing brief segments of the interview early this week in advance of running the full interview beginning tonight. Killen told W-J-T-V he wasn't shocked by his indictment after so many years. Killen also said he was at a funeral home when the murders occurred. Quoting here from the W-J-T-V interview: "It looks like they had no legal thing," Killen said. "It was surprising but I wasn't shocked. I've not had a fast heart rate yet." W-J-T-V began showing brief takeouts of its interview earlier this week.
In a 1999 interview with The Clarion-Ledger newspaper of Jackson, Killen had claimed he was at a wake when the murders occurred. In that interview he also denied being a member of the Klan or having a part in the Neshoba County murders. Killen did not immediately return calls placed today by The Associated Press to his Union home. His attorney was also unavailable for comment. District Attorney Mark Duncan said it appeared Killen was again talking to the media in a bid "to influence the jury pool." The 80-year-old part-time preacher was indicted last month in the killings of Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, both of New York, and James Chaney of Meridian. Schwerner, Goodman and Chaney were murdered by Ku Klux Klansmen and their bodies buried in an earthen dam. The brutal killings focused national attention on the civil rights struggle in Mississippi. Nineteen men, including Killen, were indicted on federal charges in the case. Killen's case ended in a hung jury, but seven others were convicted in 1967 of violating the victims' civil rights. None served more than six years. Killen is free on 250-thousand dollars bond and faces a March 28th trial. While Killen claimed he knew nothing of the three civil rights workers, in F-B-I files and court transcripts from the 1967 trial, Killen is alleged not only to have participated in the crime, but to have handled most, if not all, of the planning.
It's possible they will get a conviction but what can you really do to an 80 year old man.
I don't know what kind of health this guy is in but at age 80 how many years does he have left. He certainly doesn't seem to have much remorse about any of this and this guy is a Lay Preacher, what Hypocrisy.
Better keep him out of the General population in prison.
Mississippi ping
Video here
http://wjtv.com/
Is he supposed to show remorse if he's not guilty?
OKAY YOU GOT ME.
They better have solid material evidence, like fingerprints - 40 years is a long time, and it is difficult to answer the questions like "and where have you been on Monday [insert the date from 1964] afternoon?" It would be difficult for both the accused and the witnesses, presuming there are witnesses.
The rest of his fleeting life should be made miserable, just to prepare him for hell.
`Unfortunately they have a good record of getting people convicted with manufactured evidence, too. When you are dealing with a person the media has condemned, it'a easy.
Remember the liberal line punishment is not a deterent.
Three names and one of 'em is Wayne or Ray. Mahty suspicious, if you ask me...
That's the spirit!! Guilty until proven innocent....I don't know the man did anything and neither do you. But go ahead and judge him ahead of a trial will you?
""Edgar Ray Killen, the reputed Klansman accused of killing three civil rights workers""
He was in the Klan.
First off, it was 'reputed' he was in the Klan. Secondly, so? If a bunch of ignorant racists want to wear white sheets on their head, that's their business isn't it? As a Southerner, I disagree with everything the Klan stands for, hate how they have tried to twist the history of the South, and despise them for misusing the flags my ancestors fought under.
But it has not been proven that he committed murder and you're already ready to hang him. I know 'conservatives' are apparently doing all they can to rewrite the intent and meaning of the Constitution with some of the bills that are currently in Congress but until then he is still innocent until proven guilty and judged by a group of his peers. Or do we just need to get away from trial by jury and leave it up to the uninformed opinion, based on no facts BTW, of LauraleeBraswell to decide if the man lives or dies? That'll be fair < /sarcasm>
Just let us know will ya?
In 1964, the Klan was more than a bunch of idiots wearing white hoods.
They were a terrorist organisation.
I've been watching this whole series on tv,
and voting in their poll. Have also written
an e-mail which I exoect will be read on air...lol.
Kind of like how 3 million Jews became 6 million Jews. No, I believe it.
To be honest, that era was not
MS best moment.
I was there.
You are right in that there has
been a lot of revisionism.
However, you are wrong if you think
that none of it was true.
It can not be sluffed off.
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