Killer of Civil Rights Workers Is Denied Release on Bond
A Mississippi judge refused today to let Edgar Ray Killen out of prison while he appealed his conviction in the killing of three civil rights workers by the Ku Klux Klan in 1964.
Mr. Killen’s manslaughter conviction in June 2005 was hailed as a long-awaited victory for the civil rights movement and a redemption for the small town of Philadelphia, Miss., outside of which the killings occurred. Mr. Killen was sentenced to 60 years in prison for organizing the death of James Earl Chaney, Michael H. Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, who had been organizing a black voter registration drive.
It was the second time that Mr. Killen, 81, had asked to be freed on bond because of poor health. Last August, Judge Marcus D. Gordon of Circuit Court allowed him to go free, but then a month later reversed his decision when sheriff’s deputies testified that they had seen Mr. Killen driving in Neshoba County and pumping gas.
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Mr. Killen’s manslaughter conviction in June 2005 was hailed as a long-awaited victory for the civil rights movement and a redemption for the small town of Philadelphia, Miss., outside of which the killings occurred. Mr. Killen was sentenced to 60 years in prison for organizing the death of James Earl Chaney, Michael H. Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, who had been organizing a black voter registration drive.
It was the second time that Mr. Killen, 81, had asked to be freed on bond because of poor health. Last August, Judge Marcus D. Gordon of Circuit Court allowed him to go free, but then a month later reversed his decision when sheriff’s deputies testified that they had seen Mr. Killen driving in Neshoba County and pumping gas.