Killen Trial: Day One (Update, Sentenced to the Max 60 years)

WLBT ^ | 6-13-05

[WKB]

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (AP) -- Reputed Ku Klux Klansman Edgar Ray Killen watched from a wheelchair Monday as jury selection began in his murder trial in one of most shocking crimes of the civil rights era -- the 1964 slayings of three voter-registration volunteers.

The case against the 80-year-old Killen represents Mississippi's latest attempt to deal with unfinished business from the state's bloodstained, racist past.

In a measure of how much things have changed over the past 41 years, about a quarter of the jury pool was black, roughly reflecting the racial makeup of the county's 28,700 residents. In 1964, very few blacks were registered to vote in Neshoba County, and juries were usually all-white.

The slayings of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner -- three young men who were helping register blacks during the "Freedom Summer" of 1964 and were investigating a church burning the night they disappeared -- galvanized the civil rights movement and helped win passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The case was dramatized in the 1988 movie "Mississippi Burning."

Security was tight as 110 potential jurors were brought to the county courthouse on buses and ushered in through a side door. Another pool of 57 potential jurors is expected on Tuesday.

Summonses were sent to about 400 people, but court officials said many received automatic excuses not to serve because they were disabled or were over 65 or had economic hardships.

Killen, a part-time preacher who could face life in prison if convicted, looked straight ahead and said nothing as he was taken into the two-story, red-brick courthouse. Killen has been free on bail and uses a wheelchair because of arthritis that was aggravated after his legs were broken in a tree-cutting accident in March. He sat silently inside the courtroom. His wife, stepson, brother and another relative sat nearby.

Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon asked potential jurors about such things as their health, their reading ability and any hardships they might face if they were picked for the case. By the end of the day, about 50 people had been excused.

Streets near the courthouse in this town of about 7,300 were barricaded throughout the day, and those entering the building had to pass through metal detectors. Inside the courtroom, as many as nine uniformed officers, including state troopers to and sheriff's deputies, stood guard.

There were no early demonstrations, but J.J. Harper of Cordele, Ga., who calls himself the Imperial Wizard of the American White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Inc., was standing nearby as Killen was helped from the car into his wheelchair and shook Killen's hand. At least three other people were seen with Harper in the courtroom, but he would not say whether the other two men and a woman were members of the Klan. Last week, the leader of a Mississippi Ku Klux Klan group said his members were asked to stay away from Philadelphia because they fear any organized protest would hurt Killen's case.

Defense attorney James McIntyre of Jackson said he was not aware that Klansmen were attending the trial. He said the defense did not want them at the courthouse. Among those at the courthouse was Chaney's brother, Ben Chaney of New York, who has been the most vocal member of the family in seeking justice in the case. At one point, he sat only a row away from the Georgia Klansman.

Outside the courtroom, Ben Chaney said he's encouraged to see prosecutors pursuing a murder case. He said social changes over the past 40 years have created a completely different atmosphere. "It's good to see that Mississippi is living in the 21st century," he said.

Killen's name has been associated with the slayings from the beginning. FBI records and witnesses indicated he organized the carloads of Klansmen who followed Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner and stopped them in their station wagon. Chaney, a black man from Mississippi, and Schwerner and Goodman, white men from New York, were beaten and shot to death. Their bodies were found 44 days later, buried in an earthen dam.

Killen was tried along with several others in 1967 on federal charges of violating the victims' civil rights. The all-white jury deadlocked in Killen's case, but seven others were convicted. None served more than six years. Killen is the only person ever indicted on state murder charges in the case.

Gordon said opening arguments could start Thursday. McIntyre said before entering the courthouse that it would be extremely difficult to seat a jury. "Everybody in the world has known about this case through the news media, books and hearsay," he said. "There's no place on earth you can go where people haven't heard about this case." But eventually, he said, "I think the jury will acquit him."

[WKB]

"Anything I can do," said J.J. Harper of Cordele, Ga., imperial wizard of the American White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, who clasped Killen's fingers in a handshake as the 80-year-old defendant exited a white Mercury Grand Marquis.


In January, Harper requested permission to demonstrate on the courthouse lawn in support of Killen.

At the time of the request, the Web site of the American White Knights showed a hanging post with three nooses holding the severed hands of African Americans.

The post read "Murder in Mississippi," but the word "Murder" was crossed out in red with the word "Justice" written over it.

On Monday, the Web site opened to a page featuring a sunset reflected on the water.

But inside the site, readers could peek at "Kristian Kids Korner" and an article saying Killen's trial is "illegal" and that if he "is found guilty of any crime, so-called 'Christians' will pay the price."

Harper was joined in the courtroom Monday by several others, one of them wearing the same Klan cross on his coat lapel. None of them would speak to reporters.

Moments after a bailiff sat the Klan group next to an African American, the Klan group moved, only to have a black potential juror come and sit next to them.

[somniferum]

These KKK crazies always mentioned in the news are just a flat out embarressment to our state. I wish they would just go away.

[WKB]

These KKK crazies always mentioned in the news are just a flat out embarressment to our state. I wish they would just go away.




You're right and they ain't doing Uncle Edgar
any favors.

[helen crump]

Thank you for the report. I'll be anxious to read the next. These are interesting times in Mississippi. It is a very different place than it was then. I just recently re-watched Mississippi Burning. I wonder how true the movie was to the facts.

[dixiechick2000]

"Outside the courtroom, Ben Chaney said he's encouraged to see prosecutors pursuing a murder case. He said social changes over the past 40 years have created a completely different atmosphere. "It's good to see that Mississippi is living in the 21st century," he said."



I'm glad SOMEBODY noticed.

Good grief!
Could there be a bigger embarrassment than the KKK?
Not likely in my lifetime.
I wish they would dry up and blow away.

Thanks for posting this.
I'll be very interested in watching this trial.
I hope you will keep me updated on future developments.

[onyx]

JJ Harper ought to have stayed in Georgia to strain race relations in his own state.

Damn old fool. Here's a link to one of his more recent "writings."

http://www.awkkkk.org/parole.htm

[gulfcoast6]

The fact is that they are becoming stronger in the north than here. Sure, there are pockets buy not like it was in the 60s and even then the klan was not all that big in membership. The klan was full of FBI and state informers. Some of those guys made some good money as informers.

And then There are folks like Sen. Robert 'sheets' Byrd, former klucher (we use to call them that when I was in law enforcement in the 60s)

Those were interesting times but there is a time to bury that period in our state history and get on with life, it sure is not like that now.

[WKB]

Day 2
Killen lawyers: Bar transcripts

# District attorney says half of case based on '67 trial testimony

PHILADELPHIA — A jury may hear opening arguments this afternoon in the murder trial of reputed Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen, accused of organizing the 1964 killings of three civil rights workers.

Killen, a sawmill operator and part-time preacher, has pleaded innocent to three counts of murder in the June 21, 1964, killings of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman.

Defense lawyers said Tuesday they'll file a request as early as today seeking to bar transcript testimony of now-dead witnesses who took the stand in the 1967 federal conspiracy trial of Killen and 17 others.

District Attorney Mark Duncan estimated half the state's case will be transcript testimony, and defense lawyers put the figure at three-fourths. "That's the whole heart of this case," said Killen's lead counsel, Mitch Moran of Carthage.

Under Mississippi court rules, transcript testimony is permitted as long as cross-examination took place, but Moran said such transcript testimony wasn't allowed under the 1942 code, still in place when the crime took place.

Killen's other attorney, James McIntyre of Jackson, acknowledged the Mississippi Supreme Court already upheld use of such testimony in the 1994 retrial of Byron De La Beckwith, convicted of the 1963 murder of Medgar Evers.

McIntyre pointed out the 1967 trial was a federal one, and this is a state murder trial.

At the end of Tuesday's hearing, Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon said he hopes to have a jury in place for opening arguments to start at 2 p.m. today.

Killen was among 18 men charged with conspiracy in the killings. That trial, which began Oct. 13, 1967, ended with seven convictions, eight acquittals and three mistrials. That jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of Killen's guilt when a holdout juror said she could "never convict a preacher."

Prosecutors have subpoenaed five suspects from that case. Other witnesses could include former Meridian police officer Mike Hatcher, who testified in 1967 that Killen met with him after the trio's disappearances and told him about the killings; and Nell Miller, widow of the late Meridian police officer Wallace Miller, who testified Killen shared the story with him, also.

In Tuesday's hearing, jury consultants aided prosecutors, but defense lawyers had help, too. "Edgar Ray says he's a jury consultant," Moran said. "He says he's done other cases."

Although Killen is sitting in a wheelchair as a result of a March 10 accident, he appeared alert Tuesday, taking notes and sharing them with his attorneys.

Because of limited space Tuesday in the courtroom, Killen's family wound up sitting in front of Schwerner's widow, Rita Bender, and her husband, Bill Bender. Chaney's brother, Ben, sat behind the Benders. They greeted each other warmly when Chaney entered the courtroom.

Not far from Chaney sat Imperial Wizard J.J. Harper of Cordele, Ga., and Charles Geoffrey Denton of Eagle Woods, Fla. Both wore Klan lapel pins to "support their Christian brother," they said.

Most of the jury questioning took place Tuesday behind closed doors, while the rest of potential jurors sat in the courtroom.

Chaney said he was pleased with the diversity he's seen in the jury pool and is "waiting to see what the final panel looks like."

After potential jurors had waited for several hours, Neshoba County Sheriff Larry Myers cracked: "This is worse than waiting at the doctor's."
http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=3474505&nav=1L7tb2Cv
http://www.wjtv.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WJTV/MGArticle/JTV_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031783292989&path=

[WKB]

Those were interesting times but there is a time to bury that period in our state history and get on with life, it sure is not like that now.



How do you propose we bury that period
of our history? I don't have an answer.
But until it is buried I think
we have to defend the here and now until
the world is convinced this is a different
Mississippi. We can't just hope they
will figure it out or hope it will go away.
JMHO

[dixiechick2000]

"The fact is that they are becoming stronger in the north than here."


I saw a statistic to that effect not long ago.
IIRC, now, the South has but a fraction of them.
I know they are thriving in Oregon.
I wish I could remember where I saw that.

"Sure, there are pockets buy not like it was in the 60s and even then the klan was not all that big in membership. The klan was full of FBI and state informers. Some of those guys made some good money as informers."


Those are some very good points.

[Reagan79]

Not very true from my understanding. The FBI and Mississippians were portrayed very "Hollywoodish." I mean to think that the FBI was breaking every single law in order to secure evidence is a little much.

[dixiechick2000]

"How do you propose we bury that period
of our history? I don't have an answer."


I don't have an answer to that, either.


"But until it is buried I think
we have to defend the here and now until
the world is convinced this is a different
Mississippi."


I agree that we have to defend the Mississippi that is now.
But, with the MSM, that's gonna be a long row to hoe.
They continue to portray Mississippi as the Mississippi of the '50s.

I wish everyone could know Mississippi as we know it to be.


"We can't just hope they
will figure it out or hope it will go away."


Neither of those will happen.

[dixiechick2000]

Thanks for the update!

[onyx]

Jury pool down to 76 and and expect to seat the 12 and have opening arguments today (Wednesday)! This is NOT a CA trial...

[WKB]

See the trial live here
Click on the "Searching for Justice" link

Opening statements made in murder trial of 1964 lynchings


PHILADELPHIA — Seventeen Neshoba County residents heard opening statements today on the guilt and innocence of a man charged with a triple slaying that occurred before most of them were born or were old enough to remember.

Broken down by race and gender, the 12 jurors and five alternates consist of nine white women, four white men, two black men and two black women. Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon did not release which were jurors and which were alternates, but said nine of the jurors were white and three were black .

Edgar Ray Killen, 80, a reputed Klansman from Union, has pleaded innocent to three counts of murder in the slayings of civil rights workers James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, who had come to Mississippi during Freedom Summer to help black residents register to vote.

In opening statements today in Killen's murder trial, Attorney General Jim Hood made reference to the age of the case when he noted some of the witnesses "will speak from the grave."

The transcript from a 1967 federal trial in which Killen and 17 others were tried for conspiracy in the slayings includes testimony from witnesses who have since died.

Mitch Moran of Carthage, the lead defense attorney, also made reference to that testimony and filled in an important blank for prosecutors.

For the sake of the trial, Moran said he would let the jury presume his 80-year-old client is in the Klan.

"The Klan is not on trial in this case," Moran said.

"Everybody knows the Meridian Klan organized this," Moran said, referring to the slayings.

Hood argued in his opening statement that Killen helped to organize the Meridian Klan.

"We have to focus on Edgar Ray Killen," Moran said. "We have to ask is is Edgar Ray Killen guilty of this murder.

"Edgar Ray Killen was just a bystander in an organization a lot of other people were in," Moran said.

The only evidence the state has, he said, is Killen saying he had a bulldozer operator. A bulldozer operator buried the three civil rights workers under 15 feet of dirt.

Moran was referring to the FBI confession of Horace Doyle Barnette. The transcript of the confession was read at the trial because Barnette refused to testify, but the judge required all the names except those who had confessed to be blacked out. Killen's name was not mentioned regarding the bulldozer comment. However, Moran filled in the blanks for prosecutors.

According to FBI documents, Barnette, who is now dead, told FBI agents how the mob of Klansmen gathered to take care of the civil rights workers:

"While we were talking, Killen stated that 'we have a place to bury them, and a man to run the dozer to cover them up.' This was the first time I realized that the three civil rights workers were to be killed," Barnette told the FBI.

When the statement was read into the trial transcript, there was a blank were Killen's name was mentioned.

In that '67 trial, nine were convicted, eight acquitted and three, including Killen, had a mistrial. Until today, no one had gone on trial for murder in the killings.

Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon told jurors they will be making history when they decide Killen's fate.

He spoke to about 70 potential jurors in the trial of Killen, accused of organizing the 1964 killings of three civil rights workers.

District Attorney Mark Duncan reminded those potential jurors that the three slain men were not from Philadelphia or Neshoba County. Chaney was from Meridian; Goodman and Schwerner were from out of state.

"Tell me you'll treat them like they were from here and were our neighbors," he told potential jurors. They agreed to his request.

Duncan also asked them if they'd seen the movie Mississippi Burning, the 1988 film about the trio's killing. About three-fourths of the jury candidates said they had.

[WKB]

I hate it when that happens
http://www.wjtv.com

[cyborg]

thanks for the updates...Didn't a tree fall on him a while back?

[WKB]

thanks for the updates...Didn't a tree fall on him a while back?



Yes but it just hit his legs!

[dixiechick2000]

Do you have a link for that?



;o)