Edgar Ray Killen has been found guilty of three counts of manslaughter for planning the killings of three Civil Rights workers in 1964.
Yay!
Yay! I learned about this injustice in elementary school fergawdssakes. Finally.
From the link:
'Cause we all know that men of the cloth cannot commit crimes.
Justice delayed, etc. But I’m glad the evil motherfucker’s going down.
I’m sure it has been said, but…
Killen? KILLEN? C’mon. That’s just ironic.
Good on the jury, though. This morning it said they were dead locked 6-6. Glad they resolved.
Good enough, I suppose, but manslaugher was the lesser included. Any news yet on why they decided not to convict on the murder charges?
Just saw him being wheeled out of the courthouse and he swatted at a cameraman.
Really classy, you racist sack of crap. Lucky for you, they’ll stick your sorry ass in a special part of the prison.
He’ll be dead before all the appeals are over.
Must…resist…urge…to…reply…
Another “Yay!” I love it when these old sacks of shit think they’re going to spend the end of their days catching brim at the fishing hole and then wind up in the de la Beckwith Suite at Parchman (where I’m guessing the Welcome Wagon might be a bit rowdy). I just wish that Rainey and Price could have lived to face the jury instead of dying just a few years too early.
I knew Killen was goin’ down when his own defense attorney’s opening remarks were basically “Hey, the early 60s were a different time… the past is the past”. If that’s the best you had, puh-leez.
(OTOH, I do hope they decide not to reopen the Till case though. Unlike this case, there’s nobody to prosecute as the killers are dead- it sucks they got away with it [though at least they lived their sorry ass lives in poverty], but they did.)
It’s been a busy day, and I’m only going on what I think I heard.
If I heard correctly, there was doubt among jury members whether he can be guilty of murder if he was not present at the crime. Again, IIHC, the manslaughter option was brought in ‘at the last minute’. This way, the reluctant jurors could punish Killen for having planned the murders.
Damnit. It’s not ironic, just a coincidence . . .
I find it interesting that he’s referred to as an ex-KKK. Do the Ku Klux Klowns have a mandatory retirement age? In any case, the conviction is going to kill his gig as the dancer for Six Flags.
The judge (after much hemming and hawing) just gave him 60 years (the maximum sentence of 20 years on each count). Good call, Your Honor.
Updating this thread:
Edgar Ray Killen has died, a week before his 93rd birthday:
Near as I can tell, this ended up not being the case; I’m pretty sure his appeals ended in 2007 when the Mississippi SC upheld his sentence.
And thank Og for that; I’m already tired of people like Ken Lay and Aaron Hernandez being able to die and miraculously be “innocent”.
As despicable of a man that Killan was, I always felt that the manslaughter instruction was erroneous. Either he was guilty of murder or not guilty. The MS Supreme Court hand waived this away in a single paragraph:
If the jury thought that in conjunction with the other evidence that Killen just wanted them beaten, the twelve should have been disqualified for incompetency. The record was replete with testimony that several Klan members suggested beating them and Killen overruled them and ordered their murders.
The manslaughter instruction in addition to being improper also perversely allowed Killen to be not eligible for parole until 20 years had passed, but had he been convicted of murder, he would have been eligible in 10.
Again, it couldn’t have happened to a worse guy, but I think the legal system needs to be fair and consistent.