Justice was slow, but caught up with him in the end:
Edgar Ray Killen, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, was found guilty today of felony manslaughter in the killings of three civil rights workers in Mississippi four decades ago. The verdict, delivered on the 41st anniversary of the deaths, was less severe than the murder conviction that the state prosecutors had sought.
The jury, which began deliberating Monday afternoon, reported just before breaking for the night that they were spilt 6 to 6 on the case against Mr. Killen, an ailing, 80-year-old sawmill operator who was charged with masterminding the 1964 slayings. The jurors resumed their deliberations this morning, after spending the night sequestered at a hotel on the order of the judge, Marcus D. Gordon of State Circuit Court in Neshoba County.
Mr. Killen, the first to face state murder charges in the case, could be sentenced to up to 20 years on each of the three counts. He did not testify at his short trial, which began last Wednesday, and he was breathing with the aid of an oxygen tube, looking straight ahead, as he listened to the reading of the verdict and the confirmatory poll of the jurors by the judge.
Mr. Killen was immediately taken into custody.
Good.
Rick
Hmmm…no mention of party affiliation. I draw the proper conclusions. (Not that that’s vital, but germane to some representations about Killen’s Klan Kolleague in the Senate)
Cordially…
Stormy70
Hee hee. Justice caught up with him, he wasn’t in Congress.
John Cole
Come on now. I hate Byrd, but he never killed anyone.
Mike S
Wait a minute John. I thought I read somewhere that you were a racist. Why would you say “good” if one of your brothers in arms was convicted?
Stormy70
Joke, John. Bad one, too.
JG
I would be very surprised to learn this guy was a democrat. Maybe once but certainly not now. why would any racist stand with the party that sides with foreigners and minorities and the ACLU.
Anderson
Fellows like Killen probably belong to political parties most of us haven’t heard of. Maybe he’s a Primitive Democrat?
Justice appears to’ve been done, but man, I hope I’m never on trial with the main evidence against me being 40-year-old transcripts, and the national media declaring that I have to be convicted to preserve my state’s good reputation. I don’t think you have to be a closet racist to find this proceeding a little unnerving.
Mike S
It’s very possible that Killen was still a Democrat. There are still many racists who refuse to join the GOP because Lincoln freed the slaves.
And no, I’m not saying that the GOP is an inherently racist party. My many Republican friends find racism as abhorrent as I do.
paul breen
Philadelphia, Miss.
My gosh, isn’t that where Ronald Reagan chose to announce the start of his Presidential campaign? I guess he was just passing through and it just seemed like a place to stop. Why, lots of Hollywood types love to go to Philadelphia, Miss.
Ronnie, we got and still get the symbolism. It was the start of the modern Republican party–you must be so proud.
paul
Philadelphia, Miss.
My gosh, isn’t that where Ronald Reagan chose to announce the start of his Presidential campaign? I guess he was just passing through and it just seemed like a place to stop. Why, lots of Hollywood types love to go to Philadelphia, Miss.
Ronnie, we got and still get the symbolism. It was the start of the modern Republican party–you must be so proud.
Jeff
And you must be so proud of your ability to follow directions, such as the one saying “Do not submit comments twice”.
Anderson
Paul, Philadelphia MS is the location of the Neshoba County Fair, which in election years becomes a campaign event for every politician in Mississippi. If you’re going to announce your candidacy in Miss. in the 1st place, the fair is a logical place to do it.
I realize that to most people, “Philadelphia MS” is nothing more than the location of a crime they read about in the paper or saw in a movie, but it’s also a real place where real people live and work, both black and white. I don’t quite see why, if I go to the Neshoba fair and give a political speech, I am therefore a racist.
Rick
paul,
Pedantic, I know, but Philadelphia, MS wasn’t where Ronaldus Magnus “chose to announce the start of his Presidential campaign.” More properly, FWIW, it was the first post-convention appearance:
theagitator.com/archives/003132.php
Trying to peel off Jimmy Carter’s base.
Cordially…
Anderson
See also Kevin Drum on the Reagan subject (with lots of angry commenters if you don’t like Drum’s post).
Here’s a commenter who makes my point better than I did:
Also, as Drum points out, Mississippi was actually a swing state back in 1980 … boy do I feel old.
John S
As long as we’re being petty, Jeff, it’s possible to double-comment without clicking “submit” twice. Some browsers will send the comment again if you click “refresh.”
Darrell
There are still many racists who refuse to join the GOP because Lincoln freed the slaves
I don’t know about ‘many’, but a friend of mine’s wife’s grandparents in Arkansas refuse to vote Republican because Lincoln freed the slaves. Seems her grandfather is an ex-Klansman who still harbors a lot of bizarre racist views. I had never before in my life heard of such a thing. Hilarious, in a pathetic sort of way
Geek, Esq.
Of course, when Reagan went to Philadelphia he talked about *CODE LANGUAGE UPCOMING* “states’ rights.”
Rick
Yeah, we right wingers gotta hook up with some different crypto guys, because the left wingnuts have long been reading our mail.
OTOH, we still manage to win. So, as Annie Hall used to say: “La-de-da, la-de-da, la-de-da.”
Cordially…
Anderson
Of course, when Reagan went to Philadelphia he talked about *CODE LANGUAGE UPCOMING* “states’ rights.”
And to win Mississippi in 1980, Reagan should have talked about … what? Increased funding for the arts?
But I’m not saying to give Reagan a pass for what he said; I’m saying that he wasn’t being a racist simply by choosing to speak at the Neshoba fair after he won the nomination.
John Gillnitz
I would like to think that no matter what our disagreements are bringing a murderer to justice would have bipartisan support.
seattleslough
Not Justice.
If I killed members of your family, and the government did nothing for 40 or so years and then finally came around and put me in jail when I was 80 years old, would you feel that “justice” had been done?
People gripe when an 80 year old murder gets let out of prison after serving 45 years. This guy walks free for 40 years and we act like justice has been done?
And the Byrd comparisons are weak and pathetic. Byrd is a former racist. Not a current one like Trent Lott. I give Byrd (who is not a nationally elected politician and who is re-elected by the redstate of West Virginia) the benefit of his words and actions over the past 30 years. Give us a break already. This is not a day to celebrate. It is disgusting.
Anderson
Will Killen stay around long enough for us to see (1) an appeal or (2) Haley Barbour commute his sentence?
Far North
Fer Fuck Sake, quite already with so and so Klan member is a Democrat so blah blah. How ’bout a little history?
In the 50s and 60s, when the Democratic party supported civil rights, what did the southern Democrats do?
They became fucking Republicans, that’s what they did.
Fast forward to 2005. With some Democratic exceptions, the party of the racsist is the Republican party. I’m not saying all republicans are rascist. I’m saying all (or most) racsists are Republicans.
Far North
OK, ok, I mispelled “racsist”.
Rick
Byrd is a former racist.
Let’s not have a rush to judgment here.
I guess Far North hasn’t followed earlier discussion of this phenomenon.
The massive-resistance Dem racists/segregationists (Wallace, Sam Ervin, Fulbright, Poppa Gore, etc.) didn’t become pubbies. Thurmond was unique in his action, and Byrd rather typical in his inaction.
No, the Yellow Dogs mostly aged and died out with their registrations unchanged. That’s what took the GOP until some time in the 90s to win most Southern Congressional seats.
Cordially…
Pearl
Neshoba took care of that “Boweavil”…………let the message be to all across this country, think twice before joining the Christian KKK.
p.lukasiak
But I’m not saying to give Reagan a pass for what he said; I’m saying that he wasn’t being a racist simply by choosing to speak at the Neshoba fair after he won the nomination.
please enlighten us as to the proportion of pro-civil rights Black Mississippi politicians who made a regular habit of showing up at the Neshoba Fair in the 1980’s…
The very fact that Reagan showed up there and used the “states rights” code words suggests that you are making a distinction (between Philadelphia and Neshoba County) without a difference.
JPS
John Gillnitz: You beat me to it. Second that.
I’m sorry, I usually smack people who talk like I’m about to, but I can’t believe this thread has turned into a familiar so’s-yer-old-man exchange on the merits and demerits of the political parties.
This isn’t about Byrd, it isn’t about Reagan, and it isn’t about which party has been more to blame for our beloved country’s tragic history on race.
An evil SoB has at long last convicted of a horrible crime. Far later than he should have been, but thankfully not too late. Eighty years old, ailing, breathing on oxygen, but not too feeble to be told: Guilty. I’ll bet that sometime in his long life, he’d allowed himself to think they never would get him for it.
Yes, seattleslough, swift and severe justice would have been better. So, to my mind, would a murder conviction. This is still reason for satisfaction.
Gary Farber
“Justice was slow, but caught up with him in the end….”
I’ve been saying this about tried and sentenced Nazi war criminals for decades now: I don’t think so. When you’ve gotten to walk free for forty years after your crime, you pretty much won, and justice wasn’t achieved; there is indeed such a thing as too little, too late. It doesn’t make for a nice ending, but sometimes life sucks.
Bob
Reagan went to Philadelphia and talked “state’s rights” when state’s rights meant racist policies, not medical marijuana. Bush No. 1 had Willie Horton. Bush No. 2 went to Bob Jones University and had people calling up the good citizens of South Carolina saying that McCain had a black love child. That’s institutional racism. The institution is the Republican Party.