Reputed Klansman Gets Life Sentence

ABC News ^ | 8-24-07

[SJackson]

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- James Ford Seale, a reputed Ku Klux Klansman, was sentenced Friday to three life terms in prison for his role in the 1964 abduction and murder of two black teenagers in southwest Mississippi.

Seale, 72, was convicted in June on federal charges of kidnapping and conspiracy in the deaths of Charles Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee, two 19-year-olds who disappeared from Franklin County on May 2, 1964.

The young men's bodies were found two months later in the Mississippi River.

Seale showed no emotion as U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate read his sentence.

Wingate told Seale the crimes committed 43 years ago were "horrific" and "justice itself is ageless." He denied a defense motion to allow Seale to be free on bond while his case is appealed.

[SJackson]

Ex-Klansman Convicted of Kidnapping in 1964 Mississippi Killings

[Triggerhippie]

No killer is worth more than his crime. Too bad he didn’t get the chair...

[wideawake]

Waiting for the first post to claim that this all happened so long ago and that it is needlessly cruel to put someone so old through this.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Instead of three life terms, why not just one life term without parole?

[L98Fiero]

“Too bad he didn’t get the chair...”

LOL! He’d be dead of natural causes before he ever got to sit in it.

[Triggerhippie]

Why not the electric chair?

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

[Currently] of the opinion that the death penalty should only be used for those who have premeditatedly(?) murdered three or more people.

[sticker]

That is the argument that the left uses to cover the 60s and 70s radicals both black and white

[Triggerhippie]

Too much time spent in the appeals process... it’s a damned shame.

In a perfect world there’d be 30 days for an appeal, 120 until execution. Rope is cheap (and reusable) and trees are plentiful...

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Was there a campaign to murder racists in the 60s and 70s?

[MuttTheHoople]

B-b-b-but, I's thought we's Mississippians wuz all racists, and would never convict a Klucker. Sez so in all the movies.

Also, Byron de la Beckwith was convicted by Bobby de Laughter, a Republican, during the Kirk Fordice administration (a Republican also). Now this piece of trash is being taken off the streets for life during the reign of Haley Barbour, another Republican.

Interesting how the Democrats never touched this guy.

[L98Fiero]

Indeed. The victims never got that kind of break.

[Little Ray]

How ‘bout a long drop at the end of a short rope?

[JerseyDvl]

Is this Robert Byrd’s old buddy?

[Spktyr]

Not sure - sentencing requirements/weirdness, perhaps?

Or perhaps the judge wished to send a message.

[Spktyr]

No kidding. To them, I say:

Murder rightfully has no statute of limitations - nor should it ever have.

[pepperhead]

They should have given him a stiff wooden one then............ ;)

[Maceman]

Anyone care to guess what his party registration was back then?

[Spktyr]

Oh, wait, I may know - the accused can only be sentenced according to the guidelines in place at the time the crime occurred.

If memory serves, didn’t this particular state have a moratorium on the death penalty at the time of the offense?

[pepperhead]

Anyone care to guess what his party registration was back then?

If the story didn't say it would stand to reason he was a democrat.