Edgar Ray (Preacher) Killen (born 17 January 1925) is an American former Ku Klux Klan organizer who conspired to kill several civil rights activists in 1964. He was found guilty of three counts of manslaughter on June 21, 2005, the forty-first anniversary of the crime. He has appealed the verdict and is awaiting a hearing by the Mississippi Supreme Court. January 17 is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Members of the second Ku Klux Klan at a rally during the 1920s. ... Martin Luther King is perhaps most famous for his I Have a Dream speech, given in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom This article is about the civil rights movement following the Brown v. ... June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 193 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Supreme Court of Mississippi is the highest court in the state of Mississippi. ...

Biography

Killen was a sawmill operator and part-time Baptist minister and also a kleagle, or klavern recruiter and organizer, for the Neshoba and Lauderdale County chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards. ... Baptist is a term describing a tradition within Christianity and may also refer to individuals belonging to a Baptist church or a Baptist denomination. ... Kleagle is the title held by a form of Ku Klux Klan officer whose role is to recruit new members. ... Neshoba County is a county located in the state of Mississippi. ... Lauderdale County is a county located in the state of Mississippi. ...

Murders

During the "Freedom Summer" of 1964, two Jewish New Yorkers, Andrew Goodman, 20, and Michael Schwerner, 24, and one black Mississippian, James Chaney, 21, were murdered in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Killen, along with Cecil Price (deputy sheriff of Neshoba County at the time) gathered the group of men who hunted down and killed the three civil rights workers. The Mississippi Civil Rights Workers Murders galvanized the nation and helped bring about the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The killings are the basis of the 1988 movie Mississippi Burning. Freedom Summer was a campaign in the United States launched during the summer of 1964 to attempt to register as many African American voters as possible in the southern states. ... NY redirects here. ... Andrew Goodman Andrew Goodman (November 23, 1943 – June 21, 1964) was an American civil rights activist who was murdered by gunshot in 1964 By the Ku Klux Klan. ... Michael Schwerner Michael Schwerner (November 6, 1939 – June 21, 1964), called Mickey by friends and colleagues, was a CORE field worker killed in Philadelphia, Mississippi, by the Ku Klux Klan in response to the civil-rights work he coordinated, which included promoting registration to vote among Mississippi African Americans. ... This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... James Chaney James Earl Chaney (May 30, 1943 – June 21, 1964) was a civil rights worker who was murdered (along with Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman) by members of the Ku Klux Klan. ... Philadelphia is a city located in Neshoba County, Mississippi. ... Cecil Ray Price was linked to the murders of three civil rights workers in 1964. ... The Mississippi Civil Rights Workers Murders were the 1964 slayings of three political activists during the Civil Rights Movement. ... (Redirected from 1964 Civil Rights Act) President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ... Mississippi Burning is a 1988 film based on the investigation into the real-life murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964. ...

At the time of the killings, the state of Mississippi made little effort to prosecute the perpetrators, but the FBI, under the pro-civil-rights President Lyndon Johnson and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, directed a vigorous investigation. Federal prosecutor John Doar, circumventing dismissals by federal judges, opened a grand jury in December 1964. Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall appeared before the Supreme Court to defend the federal government's authority in bringing charges in November 1965. Eighteen men, including Killen, were arrested and charged with conspiracy to violate the victims' civil rights ^[2] in U.S. v. Cecil Price et. al.. The 1967 trial in federal court before an all-white jury ^[3] convicted seven conspirators and acquitted eight others. For three men, including Killen, the trial ended in a hung jury, after the jurors deadlocked 11-1 in favor of conviction, with the lone holdout saying she could never convict a preacher. The prosecution decided not to retry him and he was set free. None of the men found guilty served more than six years. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal police force which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... The presidential seal was first used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ... Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908–January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was an American politician. ... Seal of the United States Department of Justice The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice (see ) concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. ... Robert Francis Bobby Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also called RFK, was one of two younger brothers of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and served as United States Attorney General from 1961 to 1964. ... John Michael Doar (born December 3, 1921 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is a American lawyer and currently senior counsel with the law firm Doar Rieck & Mack in New York. ... A grand jury is a type of jury, in the common law legal system, which determines if there is enough evidence for a trial. ... The United States Solicitor General is the individual appointed to argue for the Government of the United States in front of the Supreme Court of the United States, when the government is party to a case. ... Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American jurist and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. ... The supreme court in some countries, provinces, and states, functions as a court of last resort whose rulings cannot be challenged. ... Arguably one of the most famous court cases in American history, United States v. ... A hung jury is a jury whose required majority cannot reach or agree upon a unanimous verdict after an extended period of deliberation and is deadlocked with irreconcilable differences of opinion. ...

Journalist Jerry Mitchell, an award winning investigative reporter for the Jackson Clarion-Ledger had written extensively about the case for many years. Mitchell, who had already earned fame for helping secure convictions in several other high profile Civil Rights Era murder cases, including the assassination of Medgar Evers, the Birmingham Church Bombing, and the murder of Vernon Dahmer, developed new evidence, found new witnesses, and pressured the State to take action. Vernon Ferdinand Dahmer (born March 10, 1908 in Forrest County, Mississippi - died January 11, 1966 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, burns suffered from an arson fire) was a civil rights leader and president of the Forrest County, Mississippi chapter of the NAACP. // In late 1965, Dahmer set up a voter registration drive...

Re-emergence of the case

In 2004, Killen declared that he would attend a petition-drive in his behalf, scheduled by the Nationalist Movement at the 2004 Mississippi Annual State Fair in Jackson, Mississippi, opposing Communism, integration and non-speedy trials. The Hinds County sheriff, Malcolm MacMillan, conducted a counter-petition, calling for re-opening of the case against Killen. Killen was arrested for three counts of murder on January 6, 2005. However, he was freed on bond shortly thereafter. His case drew comparisons to that of Byron De La Beckwith, who was charged with the killing of Medgar Evers in 1963 and arrested in 1994. The Nationalist Movement is a controversial Mississippi-based organization that advocates what it calls a pro-majority position. ... Nickname: Crossroads of the South, Jacktown Coordinates: Country United States State Mississippi County Hinds Founded 1822  - Mayor Frank Melton Area    - City  106. ... Hinds County is a county located in the state of Mississippi. ... January 6 is the 6th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 359 days (360 in leap years) remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image:ByronDeLaBeckwith. ... Medgar Wiley Evers (July 2, 1925 – June 12, 1963) was an African American civil rights activist from Mississippi. ...

Killen's trial had been scheduled for April 18. It was deferred, however, after the 80-year-old Killen broke both of his legs chopping down lumber in his rural home in Neshoba County. The trial began on June 13, 2005, with Killen attending in a wheelchair. He was found guilty on June 21, 2005 of manslaughter, 41 years to the day after his crime, after a jury of nine whites and three blacks rejected the charges of murder but found him guilty of recruiting the mob that carried out the killings. He was sentenced on June 23, 2005, by Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon to the maximum sentence of 60 years in prison, 20 years for each manslaughter, to be served consecutively. He will be eligible for parole after serving 20 years. At sentencing, Judge Gordon stated that each life lost was valuable and strongly asserted that the law made no distinction of age for the crime and that the maximum sentence should be imposed regardless of Killen's age. June 13 is the 164th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (165th in leap years), with 201 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A wheelchair is a wheeled mobility device in which the user sits. ... June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 193 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... June 23 is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 191 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Parole can have different meanings depending on the area and judiciary system. ...

While it is possible that even a ten-year sentence would have been tantamount to a life sentence, it is a foregone conclusion that the entire sentence will not be served.

On August 12, Killen was released from prison on a $600,000 appeal bond. He claimed that he could no longer use his right hand (he had to use his left hand to place his right one on the Bible during his swearing-in) and was permanently confined to his wheelchair. Gordon said he was convinced by testimony that Killen was neither a flight risk nor danger to the community. However, on September 3, the Clarion-Ledger reported that a deputy sheriff saw Killen walking around "with no problem." At a hearing on September 9, several other deputies testified to seeing Killen driving in various locations. One deputy said that Killen shook hands with him using his right hand. Gordon revoked the bond and ordered Killen back to prison, saying that he felt Killen committed a fraud upon the court. ^[1] On March 29, 2006, Killen was moved from his prison cell to a Jackson, Mississippi, hospital to treat complications from the severe leg injury he sustained in the logging accident in 2005. August 12 is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library of Congress. ... September 3 is the 246th day of the year (247th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The daily newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi [1], the Clarion-Ledger traces its roots to The Eastern Clarion, founded in Jasper County, Mississippi in 1837. ... September 9 is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years). ... March 29 is the 88th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (89th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

References

1. ^ [1]

Notes

1. ↑  The Civil Rights Act of 1968, passed in part due to this case, provided for life imprisonment or the death penalty for deprivations of civil rights (e.g. voter registration) resulting in bodily injury or death. Prior to that the maximum penalty was ten years.
2. ↑  Prior to the 1986 Supreme Court decision Batson v. Kentucky, prosecutors could use the peremptory challenge to arbitrarily exclude individuals from a jury based solely on their race; all-white juries were especially common in the South.

President Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act of 1968 On April 11, 1968, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (also known as CRA 68), which was meant as a follow-up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ... The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States... Holding Strauder v. ... Peremptory challenge usually refers to a right in jury selection for the parties to a court case to reject a certain number of potential jurors without having to give any reason. ... Historic Southern United States. ...

See also

• Mississippi civil rights worker murders

The Mississippi Civil Rights Workers Murders involved the 1964 slayings of three political activists during the American Civil Rights Movement. ...

External links

• Court TV coverage of the Edgar Ray Killen murder trial
• Edgar Ray Killen
• Killen interviewed by Nationalist Movement leader Richard Barrett - Barrett is a Mississippi-based white nationalist, a vocal supporter of Killen, and believes that Schwermer and Goodman were communist operatives
• National Public Radio trial-reaction roundtable (audio)
• BBC Report on the conviction
• Profile of Jerry Mitchell, the journalist whose work led to Killen's arrest (Mother Jones magazine)
• Killen's Mississippi Department of Corrections record