# Edgar Ray Killen: Guilty **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 21, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-ray-killen-guilty/309214 "2005-06-21T16:13:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-ray-killen-guilty/309214/1 "2005-06-21T16:13:47Z")
Edgar Ray Killen has been found guilty of three counts of manslaughter for planning the killings of three Civil Rights workers in 1964. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-ray-killen-guilty/309214/2 "2005-06-21T16:16:10Z")
Yay! ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-ray-killen-guilty/309214/3 "2005-06-21T16:17:10Z")
Yay! I learned about this injustice in elementary school fergawdssakes. Finally. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-ray-killen-guilty/309214/4 "2005-06-21T16:18:25Z")
[\> BREAKING NEWS Former Klansman Edgar Ray Killen found guilty of three counts of manslaughter in 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers. Details soon.](http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/21/mississippi.killings/) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-ray-killen-guilty/309214/5 "2005-06-21T16:21:54Z")
From the link: > [@](#): > > In a 1967 federal trial an all-white jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of convicting Killen. The lone holdout said she could not vote to convict a preacher. 'Cause we all know that men of the cloth cannot commit crimes. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-ray-killen-guilty/309214/6 "2005-06-21T17:41:56Z")
Justice delayed, etc. But I’m glad the evil motherfucker’s going down. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-ray-killen-guilty/309214/7 "2005-06-21T19:47:03Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-ray-killen-guilty/309214/8 "2005-06-21T23:22:11Z")
Good enough, I suppose, but manslaugher was the lesser included. Any news yet on why they decided not to convict on the murder charges? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-ray-killen-guilty/309214/9 "2005-06-21T23:22:59Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-ray-killen-guilty/309214/10 "2005-06-21T23:41:24Z")
He’ll be dead before all the appeals are over. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-ray-killen-guilty/309214/11 "2005-06-21T23:43:55Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > He’ll be dead before all the appeals are over. Must…resist…urge…to…reply… ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-ray-killen-guilty/309214/12 "2005-06-22T00:10:07Z")
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](http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/price&bowers/Rainey.htm) and [Price](http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/price&bowers/Price.htm) 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.) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-ray-killen-guilty/309214/13 "2005-06-22T04:24:43Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Good enough, I suppose, but manslaugher was the lesser included. Any news yet on why they decided not to convict on the murder charges? 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. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_from\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Man\_from\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_from_Mars)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-ray-killen-guilty/309214/14 "2005-06-23T04:11:08Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > 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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-ray-killen-guilty/309214/15 "2005-06-23T15:10:59Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2018, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-ray-killen-guilty/309214/16 "2018-01-12T22:27:37Z")
Updating this thread: Edgar Ray Killen has died, a week before his 93rd birthday: > **[Klansman who orchestrated Mississippi Burning killings dies in prison](https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/journeytojustice/2018/01/12/klansman-who-orchestrated-mississippi-burning-killings-dies-prison/1028454001/)** > > Edgar Ray Killen, who had been in the State Penitentiary at Parchman, died in prison Thursday ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2018, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-ray-killen-guilty/309214/17 "2018-01-12T22:44:30Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > He’ll be dead before all the appeals are over. 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”. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-ray-killen-guilty/309214/18 "2018-01-13T18:57:23Z")
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: > [@Killen v. State](#): > > Killen also argues that there was no evidence that Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman were killed in the heat of passion without malice.   However, the record reflects that Killen’s instruction to the Klan members who were to assist in grabbing Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman was to “pick them up and tear their butts up.”   Further, testimony indicated that Killen asked to be dropped off at the funeral home because if anything happened, he knew that he would be the first person questioned by authorities.   The jury could certainly have found that Killen planned the abduction of the three men and that he intended that they be whipped or beaten, but that he did not intend for them to be killed.   Thus, this argument has no merit. 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.