THE “STRANGE FRUIT” FROM THE RECENT MISSISSIPPI TRIAL OF A CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALIST MINISTER
LOCAL PRINT NEWS OF THE TRIALPictured at left, during a late 1964 police booking - Preacher Edgar Ray Killen who was sentenced this June 24, 2005 to 60 years for triple manslaughter charges of three civil rights workers.
The local Mississippi newspaper, the Neshoba Democrat, has a web site page dedicated to the trial at: http://tinyurl.com/dvjrq and another local newspaper, the famous Clarion Ledger covered the Klan’s attendance at the trial at: http://tinyurl.com/87s72 ; and another article from seven years ago details that during the 1967 trial against “Preacher” Killen which interviewed the surviving members and families of the jury discussing the 11 – 1 vote for Killen’s mistrial.
A single female juror who held out against his guilty verdict because she "couldn't send a preacher to prison." The exclusive article is located at: http://tinyurl.com/aa7vq ; and this article captures the local history of cross burnings, threatening phone calls and other forms of jury intimidation the jurors received at their homes.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Another very helpful background report is at: http://tinyurl.com/7a8t and a photograph of Killen during the time of the murders at: http://tinyurl.com/8zq9n in reference to the immediate historical context of the crimes. The report details a number of attempts to kill Michael Schwerner known among local Klan members as “Goatee” or “Jew Boy” which was overlooked by mainstream media covering Killen’s recent trial:
“The Klan's first attempt to eliminate Schwerner came on June 16, 1964 in the rural Neshoba County community of Longdale [LINK TO MAP]. Schwerner had visited Longdale on Memorial Day to ask permission of the black congregation at Mount Zion Church to use their church as the site of a "Freedom School."
The Klan knew of Schwerner's Memorial Day visit to Longdale and expected him to return for a business meeting held at the church on the evening of June 16. About 10 p.m., when the Mount Zion meeting broke up, seven black men and three black women left the building to discover thirty men lined up in military fashion with rifles and shotguns. More men were gathered at the rear of the church.
Frustrated when their search for "Jew-Boy" was unsuccessful, some of the Klan members began beating the departing blacks. Ten gallons of diesel fuel were removed from one of the Klan members cars and spread around the inside of the church. Mount Zion Church was soon engulfed in flames.”
– from the University of Missouri (Kansas City) authoritative web site MISSISSIPPI BURNING which has a very good account of the period in Neshoba county at: http://tinyurl.com/bt732
And Truthout (dot) org have a great series of articles about the trial at: http://tinyurl.com/aq6hp coverage includes contemporary photographs and “on the ground reports” of the courthouse and the surrounding countryside by John Sugg.
TRIAL NOTES FROM C-SPAN’S BROADCAST of CLOSING ARGUMENTS
Judge Marcus Gordon, 8th Circuit Court District presided in the Philadelphia, Miss., Neshoba County courthouse.
Pastor Killen officiated at the double funeral for Judge Gordon’s parents several years ago. It was reported by Sugg that Killen was visibly happy and motioned a thumbs up to the judge during one of the earlier hearings.
17 others were also tried in 1967, in Killen’s case the jury was 11 – 1 for acquittal and resulted in the criminal conviction of less than half, with jail sentences of less than ten years each.
TERROR – “IN THE NAME OF GOD”
Judge Marcus Gordon, 8th Circuit Court District presided in the Philadelphia, Miss., Neshoba County courthouse.
Pastor Killen officiated at the double funeral for Judge Gordon’s parents several years ago. It was reported by Sugg that Killen was visibly happy and motioned a thumbs up to the judge during one of the earlier hearings.
17 others were also tried in 1967, in Killen’s case the jury was 11 – 1 for acquittal and resulted in the criminal conviction of less than half, with jail sentences of less than ten years each.
TERROR – “IN THE NAME OF GOD”
Closing arguments by Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood included statements like: “He did it with the word of God.” … “It was done by that man right over there,” and “He wants one of you to get weak.”
He pointed out that Killen ceremoniously had the other members of the party during the night of the murders take an oath to swear. He recalled how later during the 1967 trial of the 17, including the county sheriff and a deputy had a large mob gathered outside the courthouse that heckled and threw garbage at the “eight FBI agents” when they left the building in 1967.
James McIntyre, an attorney for Pastor Edgar Ray Killen, during his closing statement appealed to the sentiments of those residents to the “outside politics” and “done nothing but agitate all the citizens of Mississippi” or “a complete distraction” over a wound that “healed over 40 years ago”.
He beseeches jurors to think of protecting their homes. He points to “all these people out here” and claims it is nothing but a “show.”
Mitch Moran, another attorney for Pastor Edgar Ray Killen, claimed that another klavern or chapter “put the orders out” to kill the three and that Sam Bowers “approved it.” Killen’s known association with Sam Bower’s was well established during the 1967 federal trial when Bower’s was among the 7 convicted. More background information on Bowers is available at: http://www.cnn.com/US/9808/21/klan/
James McIntyre, an attorney for Pastor Edgar Ray Killen, during his closing statement appealed to the sentiments of those residents to the “outside politics” and “done nothing but agitate all the citizens of Mississippi” or “a complete distraction” over a wound that “healed over 40 years ago”.
He beseeches jurors to think of protecting their homes. He points to “all these people out here” and claims it is nothing but a “show.”
Mitch Moran, another attorney for Pastor Edgar Ray Killen, claimed that another klavern or chapter “put the orders out” to kill the three and that Sam Bowers “approved it.” Killen’s known association with Sam Bower’s was well established during the 1967 federal trial when Bower’s was among the 7 convicted. More background information on Bowers is available at: http://www.cnn.com/US/9808/21/klan/
Moran said, that there were “75 to 80 members of the Klan” in Neshoba County during that time in Mississippi.
Moran said, “it is very hard to defend someone when the evidence is read into the record.” He is referring to testimony of other Klansmen and government informants that was read from the witness box. The testimonies were from people who have died since the 1967 trial.
Miss. 8th Circuit District court Mark Duncan, the local county attorney, described the court’s instructions on arriving at the verdict. He recites a story about Neshoba County – hearsay and “folklore” about the three civil rights workers.
He said the three were helping people to register to vote and build a community center where children could read books and of Schwerner’s surviving wife who recalled earlier in the trial from the witness box of living at that time in a shack with no running water, and having to enter a black owned hotel through the back door.
Duncan’s voice raised as he called to the jury to look at the “main instigator,” pointing to Pastor Killen.
“He [Killen] was the man who directed the killings” and didn’t have “the gumption or guts to carry out the murders himself,” claimed Duncan.
“You won’t have anymore trouble from Goatee.” – Pastor Killen to Deputy Hatcher referring to Schwerner on the day after the murders.
Killen smirked and grinned from his wheel chair throughout much of the statements by the prosecutors. On several occasions he mouthed inaudible words to the jury.
Miss. 8th Circuit District court Mark Duncan, the local county attorney, described the court’s instructions on arriving at the verdict. He recites a story about Neshoba County – hearsay and “folklore” about the three civil rights workers.
He said the three were helping people to register to vote and build a community center where children could read books and of Schwerner’s surviving wife who recalled earlier in the trial from the witness box of living at that time in a shack with no running water, and having to enter a black owned hotel through the back door.
Duncan’s voice raised as he called to the jury to look at the “main instigator,” pointing to Pastor Killen.
“He [Killen] was the man who directed the killings” and didn’t have “the gumption or guts to carry out the murders himself,” claimed Duncan.
“You won’t have anymore trouble from Goatee.” – Pastor Killen to Deputy Hatcher referring to Schwerner on the day after the murders.
Killen smirked and grinned from his wheel chair throughout much of the statements by the prosecutors. On several occasions he mouthed inaudible words to the jury.
"What you do in life - echoes through eternity."- Neshoba County Attorney Mark Duncan
According to the prosecutors the burial site of the three civil rights workers had already been dug prior to their murders “waiting to be used” at the local dam construction site, located a few miles northeast of Philadelphia, Ms.
Five witnesses testified against Killen, that he “originated, planned and directed the organization of the murders.”
“There is another story – and that was the description of our home and the way it was for Neshoba County.“
Duncan recalls watching a movie at his home and with his voice cracking in emotion quotes a character, “what you do in life echoes through eternity.”
The jury is sent to deliberate and return a verdict, in less than four hours the judge calls them back for a report on the last vote. The foreman to the jury reported that the last vote was 6 – 6 when it was recessed till the following morning.
The jury was sequestered at a local motel over the evening. The judge admonished the jurors about avoiding discussion or watching any news.
The following morning the judge thanked the news media for their professionalism; Killen sits in a wheel chair with an oxygen hose in his nose. The jurors and victims at no time were clearly visible to the cameras throughout the trial.
All twelve jurors were required to acknowledge with their voices to Judge Gordan their agreement with the verdicts 6 times; three for each charge before the reading of the verdict, and three times each after the reading of the guilty verdict.
The following day Gordan sentences Killen to three consecutive maximum sentences of twenty years for each of the three counts of manslaughter.
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