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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."
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