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.
You're eighteen years old.
You've read about it.
I was there.
Lived in Memphis.
MS was the hot bed. followed by Alabama.
I was in Clarkdale the day LBJ signed the
civil rights bill... remember the day CLEARLY:
July 2, 1964. I lived in Memphis.
Yes ugly times, but revisionism and political
ambitions are running rampant right now.
Too bad, but blacks have shown they're just as
low down and dirty when they have the chance: OJ Simpson jury.
"Lived in Memphis."
I didn't know that.
Oh yeah.
Lived in Memphis all of '64
and part of '65. Went to Clarksdale
a LOT... wet county...lol.
"Yes ugly times, but revisionism and political
ambitions are running rampant right now."
Absolutely right.
Sickening, however fascinating, to watch.
"Too bad, but blacks have shown they're just as
low down and dirty when they have the chance: OJ Simpson jury."
That was LA. And, the big cities. However, in small town
Southern America, there is a growing black middle class.
Please...try not to be so pessimistic.
I have black neighbors.
One family directly across the street,
and another family directly behind me.
They're definitely middle class and really
nice folks. We visit back and forth, and
went to Mardi Gras parade together. Nice
tight neighborhood. VERY HAPPY HERE.
If the MSM has their way it will be a rendition of the vaunted case "The Queen v Alice." Verdict first, trial later.
They were a terrorist organisation.
And they were all democrats, in fact back then if you wanted to be somebody in the dixiecrats you first had to be a member of the klan. After seeing what the welfare society imposed by the democrats has done to the Black community I have to conclude that they are still on the same track that they started out on in the 1840s.
THAT is what I'm talking about. ;o)
And, that is what is overlooked.
I lived in an integrated middle
class neighborhood in the late 70s.
People seem to equate ALL Southerners
with inner Atlanta, N'Awlins, Jackson,
Detroit, LA...
I'm glad you are so happy.
I wish I could be there.
" ALL Southerners"
Well...I meant to say
ALL blacks.
Not sure when that will be yet.
But, thank you.
They may not be wearing hoods anymore, but if you look at the way Condi Rice and Colin Powell have been treated, they sure haven't changed a whole lot since then.
You need to meet the "lawyer" and the other guy too.
Both so nice and both are FUNNY. We can do a lunch meeting...lol.
EXCELLENT POINT!
Thank you.
You're so right.
Condi, Powell, Justice Thomas...
the ones who knock them, ought to
try to emulate them or at least respect
them for their achievements.
"You need to meet the "lawyer" and the other guy too.
Both so nice and both are FUNNY. We can do a lunch meeting...lol."
I think I could use some "legal", and "other" advise.
Lunch would be great!
I have abolutely no doubt that those two are a "must meet".
And, you, as well. ;o)
I enjoyed the Civil Rights Movement during the Summer of 1978 during the Memphis Fireman's strike. I was pulling duty with a National Guard Unit the weekend it erupted and got to see diversity at its finest. Just look at how Memphis has progressed since diversity has hit city hall and the county government.
I am surprised nobody yet said, "Some people need Killen."
I see them as nothing more than idiots with wrong views wearing white hoods. Terrorist organization? Bit of a hyperbole wouldn't you say?
Well, the Klan did terrorize blacks.
I just meant that in a response to the "He's too old now."
Of course they did. As gangs do to other groups today. Should we find every gang member whether or not they just joined their group and charge them with every crime committed by other group members whether or not they were involved? By your standard, it's going to be quite easy to do it. Rule of law? Heck, we can't let the rule of law get in the way. We've got too many people to prosecute!! You're going to be locking up a whole lot of people that way, unfairly at that. But heck, as you said, even though there's no evidence that you have personally seen and even though you are not on the jury to be able to see that evidence let's just go off what the media reports and make 'the rest of his fleeting life should be made miserable, just to prepare him for hell.'
Yep, that's justice alright....
I didn't say that.
I meant it in the context of responding to those who felt someone who commited a crime years ago is too old to be prosecuted.
And you have a point that I am fully taking to heart.
Hyperbole?
Tell that to Emmett Till, the 4 girls in the church, and Medgar Evers.
BTW, Tim McVeigh was a Klansman. I suppose blowing up the Murrah Bldg. wasn't a terrorist attack?
Eric Rudolph was a Klansman, too. he set off almost as many explosions as una-bomber Ted Koszynski
"As gangs do to other groups today. Should we find every gang member whether or not they just joined their group and charge them with every crime committed by other group members whether or not they were involved?"
___________________________
We already do, its called RICO and its been around for almost 30 years.
That's the big government 'conservative' spirit!!!
Not surprisingly, RICO ultimately came to be the ultimate weapon that federal prosecutors could use against individuals and business owners who decidedly were not part of "organized crime," but the provisions of the law are so powerful that a RICO indictment almost guarantees a conviction of some sort. (And, surprise, surprise, the ACLU itself dropped its official aversion to RICO after pro-abortion groups successfully used the civil portion of RICO to win huge monetary judgments from groups protesting abortion.)
Washington Is a Sledgehammer; We Are Nails
But there are plenty of documented incidents where RICO has been misused and not under the original intent. But we all know 'conservatives' don't care
I wans't saying I was for it or against it, just that its already there.
Oh but you did say it. Right here in Post 8
I meant it in the context of responding to those who felt someone who commited a crime years ago is too old to be prosecuted.
So in the next sentence you admit you said it but in a different context? Tell us dear. How exactly should we take it if that is the only statement you made in that post without seeing any of the evidence or knowing the full details of the crime?
And you have a point that I am fully taking to heart.
That's more than evident and it's clouded your judgement on two wrongs don't make a right. If he is convicted fairly in criminal court, he should face the fullest punishment available to the courts. But to dismiss his alibi out of hand because you may not like him and he belonged to a group that neither of us agree with is not only foolish, it is wrong.
Like the Nazi officer at the war crimes trial; "I neffer killed anyvun, I vas only giffing orders!"
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