Via Reuters: Ex-Klansman gets 60 years for civil rights killings
Elderly former Ku Klux Klansman Edgar Ray Killen was sentenced on Thursday to 60 years in prison for the 1964 killing of three civil rights workers, the notorious crime that galvanized the civil rights movement and inspired the 1988 movie “Mississippi Burning.”Killen wore a yellow prison jumpsuit and showed no emotion as Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon handed down the maximum possible sentence for the 80-year-old former Baptist preacher, a punishment likely to keep him in prison for the rest of his life.
[...]
A multiracial jury convicted Killen on Tuesday on three counts of felony manslaughter, finding that he organized a posse to kidnap, beat and shoot Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney and bulldoze their bodies under an earthen dam.
But the jury cleared him of the more serious charge of murder.
Was politics a part of this case? Absolutely.
Was the outcome just? Absolutely.
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June 23rd, 2024 at 11:50 am
Pardon the offtopicness but this has been on my mind. what do you guys think about the fec trying to regulate blog disclosure and such? I think it’s valuable to know if blogs get money but this isn’t the way to do it. what if an independent company offered an official seal that told about constributions or endorsements? solves the problem w/o the government. y’all thoughts?