'Klansman' charged with 1964 murders

Published on Saturday 8 January 2005 00:04

A REPUTED Ku Klux Klan member has been charged with murder more than 40 years after one of the most notorious crimes of the civil rights era in the United States - the "Freedom Summer" killings of three young civil rights workers.

The preacher Edgar Ray Killen, 79, pleaded not guilty yesterday at a court in Mississippi charged in connection with the deaths, which were dramatised in the 1988 film Mississippi Burning.

In 1964, James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, who were helping to register black voters, were murdered on a quiet dirt road as they drove to a church to investigate a fire. They were allegedly stopped by Klansmen, beaten and shot. Several weeks later, their bodies were found buried in a dam a few miles away.

Nineteen men - including Killen and other Klansmen - were indicted. Seven were convicted of federal civil rights violations in 1967 and sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to ten years.

Killen was freed after his trial on conspiracy charges ended in a hung jury. The state never brought murder charges against any of the men, and none of those convicted served more than six years.

Killen’s arrest follows a grand jury session on Thursday that apparently included testimony from individuals believed to have knowledge of the shootings. Sheriff Larry Myers said Killen was held on three counts of murder.

"We went ahead and got him because he was high profile and we knew where he was," the sheriff said. Killen has always denied the killings.

The grand jury considered whether sufficient evidence still existed to bring charges. Killen was identified in testimony in earlier proceedings as having a role in the killings.

Mississippi has had some success reopening old civil rights murder cases, including the 1994 conviction of Byron de la Beckwith for the 1963 assassination of Medgar Evers, field secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People.

But until recently there has been little progress in building murder cases against anyone allegedly involved in the deaths of Mr Chaney, Mr Goodman and Mr Schwerner - though the case has remained very much in the public eye. Jim Hood, the attorney general, reopened the investigation and last month an anonymous donor put up a $100,000 reward for information leading to murder charges.

"After 40 years to come back and do something like this is ridiculous ... like a nightmare," said Billy Wayne Posey, one of the men previously convicted. The greying Posey, supported by a stick, spoke while waiting to testify before the grand jury. He refused to say what he expected to be asked.

Mr Goodman’s mother, Carolyn, 89, said she "knew that in the end the right thing was going to happen".

Along with praise from many, the grand jury’s efforts also drew criticism from both sides of the case. "It appears to be a sad day for the state of Mississippi," said James D McIntyre, an attorney who said he was on the defence team during the 1967 trial.

Ben Chaney, the younger brother of James Chaney, called the latest investigation a sham that may target one or two unrepentant Klansmen but spare the wealthy and influential whites who he claims had a hand in the murders.