Ex-Klansman found guilty in notorious '64 slayings

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. — On the 41st anniversary of the slayings of three civil-rights workers, a jury yesterday convicted an 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klan leader of manslaughter, closing another chapter in the nation's sordid past of racial violence that has haunted generations.

Edgar Ray Killen took a deep breath and sat expressionless as the judge pronounced him guilty of orchestrating the slayings of Michael Schwerner, 24, James Chaney, 21, and Andrew Goodman, 20, who were beaten and shot to death the night of June 21, 1964, on a rural road near Killen's home. After an intensive FBI search, their bodies were found 44 days later in an earthen dam.

Though the jury declined to find Killen guilty of murder, which would have carried a life sentence, many people in Philadelphia found solace in the manslaughter verdict. Killen could serve up to 20 years in state prison on each of the three counts, meaning he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon will sentence him tomorrow.

"For so long we have borne the burden of what was done here by a handful of people 41 years ago. Today we showed the rest of the world the true character of the people in Neshoba County," said District Attorney Mark Duncan. "We won't be known throughout the world by a Hollywood movie anymore."

The slayings occurred during "Freedom Summer," when hundreds of young people, mostly white college students, traveled to the South to organize voter-education programs and register African Americans a year before Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The saga of the young men — stopped by corrupt sheriff's deputies for allegedly speeding and then ambushed by a group of Klansmen on a Mississippi highway — came to symbolize the hatred, violence and power of white supremacists in the South. The story was told in the movie "Mississippi Burning" in 1988.

In an attempt to reconcile the South with its past, federal and state prosecutors have reopened more than 24 old civil-rights killings that either never were tried or in which all-white juries in the 1960s refused to convict.

Killen's is the 22nd conviction in a series of cases that began with former Klansman Byron De La Beckwith, who in 1994 was convicted of the 1963 murder of NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers. De La Beckwith died in prison four years ago at 80.

Prosecutors, though acknowledging that Killen was not present when the slayings occurred, said the Klan had set a black church on fire to lure Schwerner, their primary target, to Neshoba County that night. Killen, prosecutors said, was the mastermind behind the attack and recruited the Klansmen to carry out what the organization called an "elimination."

Defense attorney Mitch Moran conceded in his opening arguments that Killen was a member of the Klan at the time of the killings. He insisted, however, that the defendant never played a dominant role and was nothing more than a bystander, like many others in the county who were members of the Klan at the time.

In finding Killen guilty of manslaughter, the jury of three African Americans and nine whites rejected the prosecution's claim that Killen intended to cause the men's deaths. The manslaughter charge, which was added shortly before deliberations began Monday, gave the panel the option of finding him guilty of orchestrating the attack, which ended in what could have been unintentional murders.

Defense attorney James McIntyre said Killen likely would appeal the conviction.

Rita Schwerner Bender, who was married to Schwerner and had traveled with him to the South that summer, said the conviction is an important first step in bringing recognition to the many people, including those unknown, who gave their lives helping others.

"The window is open, but the light has not come through completely," said Bender, an attorney in Seattle. "That some members of the jury could sit there and not see that this was murder with malice is an indicator that there are still people who unfortunately choose to look aside and not see the truth. This means there is a lot more work to be done."

Bender said it remains a sad fact that national and international attention has been focused on the story because two of the three men — Schwerner and Goodman, both of New York — were white. Chaney was an African American from nearby Meridian, Miss.

"No attention would have been given to others who were so badly treated," she said. "That means race is still an important factor in this country."

Henry Aronson, a Seattle-area lawyer who defended civil-rights activists for the Legal Defense Fund during that summer, was shocked when told about Killen's manslaughter conviction yesterday. He thought the jury would be too divided to reach a decision.

"I think the guilty verdict is a healthy sign of change, particularly in a city which is presently known for but one thing: the brutal, ugly, previously unpunished murder of three young men seeking equal justice for all people," Aronson said.

Though Killen has used a wheelchair while recovering from a tree-cutting accident in March and appeared in court with an oxygen tube in his nose, he remained defiant as he left the courthouse yesterday. He shoved his hand in anger at microphones and refused to speak to reporters as deputies wheeled him to a sheriff's car that would take him to the county jail.

After the verdict was read, Gordon asked the jury to leave the courtroom briefly while he allowed Killen's wife, Betty Jo, to spend a few minutes with him at the defense table. The woman, who has tried to avoid media attention during the eight-day trial, gave a rare exhibit of public affection in the packed courtroom as she stood over her husband and wept.

In 1967, Killen walked free after a jury deadlocked 11-1 for his conviction in a federal conspiracy trial. Of the 19 men tried, seven were convicted and nine were acquitted. The jury deadlocked on two.

Mississippi Attorney General James Hood would not say whether charges would be filed against at least eight other former Klansmen who allegedly were involved in the killings and are still alive. Last year, Hood sought state murder indictments against the men, but the Neshoba County grand jury indicted only Killen.

Duncan said prosecuting this case was difficult because four of the people who implicated Killen in the killings are dead. Their testimony from the 1967 conspiracy trial was read in court.

"This was not a perfect verdict, but it was not a perfect case," said Duncan.

Ben Chaney, the younger brother of James Chaney, has been critical of prosecutors for failing to expand the case. He said yesterday that he was happy to "take what we got."

"I would like to thank the white folks of Neshoba County who walked up to me and said, 'Things are changing, not as fast as we would like, but they are changing,' " he said. "Light will shine on this community today, slightly. But we are still in the dark."

Seattle Times staff reporter Nick Martin contributed to this report.