Posted on 06/23/2005 3:56:25 PM PDT by IronMan04
One-time Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen has been jailed for 60 years for masterminding the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi. Killen, 80, was convicted of three counts of manslaughter on Tuesday - 41 years after the men were killed.
Judge Marcus Gordon sentenced the preacher to 20 years for each killing.
The murders helped spur passage of the 1964 US Civil Rights Act and the search for evidence was dramatised in the 1988 movie Mississippi Burning.
Killen, a Baptist, will appeal against the convictions on Monday, arguing the jury should not have been able to consider manslaughter charges as an alternative to murder.
He has been held at Neshoba County Jail since his conviction and arrived at the Philadelphia court in a wheelchair, dressed in a bright yellow prison jump suit.
Killed and buried
The activists were two white men from New York and a local black colleague, who were killed while campaigning for the registration of black voters.
The victims became martyrs to the cause of civil rights
They were arrested for a dubious traffic violation, and attacked by a gang of Klansmen and police after being released in the middle of the night.
They were abducted as they drove out of the Mississippi town and shot dead.
Their bodies, riddled with bullets and badly beaten, were buried at a dam and only found 44 days later after an extensive search.
Killen, who was a suspect in the original investigation but never convicted, was re-arrested after new evidence emerged.
The three gentlemen who were killed, each life has value, and each life is equal as valuable as the other life and I have taken that into consideration...
Judge Marcus Gordon
Ghosts of the Deep South
Judge Gordon anticipated criticism of his decision to hand Killen what is in effect a life sentence, but said the law made no distinction for a defendant's age.
He told Killen: "The three gentlemen who were killed, each life has value, and each life is equal as valuable as the other life and I have taken that into consideration...".
The preacher had denied taking any part in the killings of Michael Schwerner, 24, Andy Goodman, 20, and James Chaney, 21.
Killen was tried in 1967 on federal charges of violating the victims' civil rights. But the all-white jury was deadlocked. Seven others were convicted, but none served more than six years.
Judge Gordon, was able to consider a presentencing report on Killen's finances, and a health report that the judge requested from Killen's doctors.
Killen uses a wheelchair because of a logging accident that broke both his legs in March.
Why does it matter that he's a Baptist? Would they have said, "Killen, a Moslem, will appeal ..."?
"Killen uses a wheelchair because of a logging accident that broke both his legs in March."
Gosh, I'm SO choked up to hear that.
His Legs should have been broken by a gang of bikers years ago.
Besides the Baptist part, I was wondering why they kept referring to him as "the preacher". Is he a preacher? or is this just the usual BBC anti Christian slant?
I've seen "preacher" used in other sources, so it's not just the BBC. Anyone can call himself a preacher, and in many denominations, anyone can preach who's invited by the congregation or the pastor. I don't know whether Mr. Killen is an ordained minister of any kind, or has seminary education.
For the record, I'm glad he's going to jail, whatever his religion is :-).
I'm not glad he's going to jail. He should go directly to hell, do not pass Go, do not collect $200.
too bad mary jo kopeneckne paernts won't be so lucky Good ole Teddy keeps to keep his freedom....
Sorry about that...Mary Jo Kopeneckes parents won't be so lucky..Good ole Teddy gets to keep his freedom...the B*stard
I saw him on TV last night, my guess he will not make it to 140. I am not a doctor nor did I spend a night at a Holliday Inn Express.
I think the logging accident may have been a little piece of eternity getting a headstart.
That makes sense, too.
I don't have a problem with those guys trying to make the south a better place for blacks to live...I Do have a HUGE problem with the libs,dems,feminists and black leaders giving those lousy dems a different standard than everybody else.....Ray killen helped muder innocent people,then he deserves to be jailed...But,so does the lousy fat boy Teddy kennedy and ku klux klan lover,Robert Byrd......
Yeah, we are all weeping.
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