Month: July 2009

(U.S.) Mississippi: Judge allows Mississippi cold case of black teenagers killed by Ku Klu Klan (KKK)
— Clarion Ledger reports: “U.S. District Judge Tom Lee has rejected a defense request to throw out a lawsuit filed against Franklin County by the families of two black teenagers killed by the Ku Klux Klan 45 years ago.”
— “It is the first such lawsuit filed to clear the hurdle of the statute of limitations since unpunished killings from the civil rights era since cases began to be reopened in 1989.”
— “‘This is a landmark case — an extremely significant case,’ said Jackson lawyer Dennis Sweet, a lawyer for the families of Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, who were abducted and beaten by Klansmen on May 2, 1964, before being drowned in an old portion of the Mississippi River.”
— “Reputed Klansman James Ford Seale is serving three life sentences for kidnapping and conspiracy in the case. His lawyers are appealing that conviction.”
— “Lawyers defending Franklin County called the killings ‘abhorrent’ but insisted the Klan was solely responsible: ‘There is no genuine evidence which exists linking the sheriff of Franklin County to the events alleged.'”
— “The judge quoted from a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision, which found that the statute of limitations ‘does not run until the plaintiff is in possession of the ‘crucial facts’ that he has been hurt and the defendant is involved.'”
— “The lawsuit brought by the families’ lawyers — Sweet, Warren Martin, Margaret Burnham and Charles Ogletree — said the then-Franklin County Sheriff Wayne Hutto and Deputy Kirby Shell conspired with the Klan to commit these crimes, refused to investigate after and then covered up their evil deeds.”

— See als0 – Jackson Free Press:  Dee, Moore Lawsuit Goes Forward