[Marxism] KKK *hole arrested for 1964 killings...

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http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050107/ap_on_re_us/civil_rights_
killings_13


Congressman Hails Arrest in 1964 Killings

Fri Jan 7,11:01 AM ET   U.S. National - AP


By SHELIA BYRD, Associated Press Writer

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. - A black congressman who knew the three civil rights
workers slain in Mississippi more than 40 years ago on Friday hailed the arrest 
of a
suspect as "a tremendous step down a very long road."


Rep. John Lewis  told NBC's "Today" that Thursday's arrest, along with the 
similar
reopening of other civil-rights-era cases in recent years, would "have a 
redeeming
effect on the very soul of this region of our country."


A reputed member of the Ku Klux Klan, Edgar Ray Killen, was arrested in the 1964
shooting deaths James Chaney, a 21-year-old black Mississippian, and two white
New Yorkers ? Andrew Goodman, 20, and Michael Schwerner, 24. It was the first
time the state has sought criminal charges in the case that outraged a nation.


In 1967, the Justice Department (news - web sites) tried Killen and 18 other 
men ?
many of them also Klan members ? on federal civil rights violations. Seven were
convicted and sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to 10 years.


Killen, now 79, was freed after his trial ended in a hung jury. Friday, he was 
to be
arraigned in Neshoba County Court on three counts of murder.


Sheriff Larry Myers said Friday that the Killen indictment was the only one he 
had
received related to the Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner murders. He said any
information about possible additional indictments in the case would have to come
from prosecutors, who have declined to comment.


Eight of the 18 men who were tried on federal conspiracy charges are still 
alive.
Myers said Thursday he had arrested Killen "because he was high profile and we
knew where he was."


>From her home in New York, Goodman's mother, Carolyn, said she "knew that in
the end the right thing was going to happen." She added: "I'm not looking for
revenge. I'm looking for justice."


Lewis, elected to Congress from Georgia in 1986, was chairman of a leading civil
right group, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, from 1963 to 1966. 
"It
is never, ever too late to bring about justice and send the strongest possible
message that bigotry and hate will not be tolerated in our society," he said 
Friday.


Killen's arrest followed a grand jury session Thursday that apparently included
testimony from individuals believed to have knowledge of the slayings.


"After 40 years to come back and do something like this is ridiculous ... like a
nightmare," said Billy Wayne Posey said while waiting to testify before the 
grand
jury. One of the men convicted in federal court, Posey refused to say what he
expected to be asked.


Calls to Killen's home late Thursday were answered by a recording.


Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner, were killed on a lonely dirt road as they drove 
to
a church to investigate a fire. The trio allegedly was stopped by Klansmen, 
beaten
and shot to death.


They were participating in Freedom Summer 1964, when hundreds of young, mostly
white, college students came to the South to register blacks to vote and start
educational programs.


Several weeks later, their bodies were found buried in a dam a few miles from 
the
church. The case was dramatized in the 1988 movie "Mississippi Burning."


Killen has always denied a role in the slayings.


Jerry G. Killen, who identified himself as the suspect's brother, said he 
wasn't aware
of the arrest but said he thought it was "pitiful." He said his brother never 
mentioned
the 1964 slayings: "He won't talk about it. I don't know if he did it or not."





Mississippi has had some success reopening old civil rights murder cases, 
including
a 1994 conviction of Byron de la Beckwith for the 1963 assassination of NAACP
field secretary Medgar Evers.

But until recently there has been little progress in building murder cases 
against
anyone involved in the slayings ? though the case has remained very much in the
public eye.

Attorney General Jim Hood reopened an investigation of the slayings and just 
last
month, an anonymous donor posted a $100,000 reward for information leading to
murder charges.

Not everyone was happy with the grand jury's efforts.

"It appears to be a sad day for the state of Mississippi," said attorney James 
D.
McIntyre, who said he was on the defense team during the 1967 trial. "The
investigation that has being brought forth ? the prosecutors, news media ? I 
just
hate to see it happen."

Ben Chaney, the younger brother of James Chaney, called the latest 
investigation a
sham that may target one or two unrepentant Klansmen ? but spare the wealthy
and influential whites he claims had a hand in the slayings.

But Stan Dearman, a former editor and publisher of the weekly Neshoba Democrat
newspaper, cheered the decision as he stood in the courthouse as the grand jury
met.

Dearman covered the murders for the newspaper, and in 1989 wrote an editorial
calling for the reopening of the case. "I never thought I would live to see 
this day,"
Dearman said. "It's a good feeling."








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