Reputed Klansman insists he is not guilty in 'Mississippi Burning' murder case
Reputed Ku Klux Klansman Edgar Ray Killen responded loudly with “not guilty” three times today as he was arraigned on murder charges in relation to the notorious "Mississippi Burning" case.
Killen, handcuffed and dressed in a loosely fitting orange jail jump-suit, lowered his voice when asked if he could afford a lawyer. He was then led off to the county jail pending another hearing next Wednesday.
Soon after Killen’s arraignment the courthouse in Philadelphia, Mississippi, was cleared by police who said they had received a bomb threat.
Sheriff Larry Myers said that Edgar Ray Killen was arrested at his Mississippi home. Myers said there would be more arrests in connection with the killings, which were dramatised in the 1988 movie “Mississippi Burning.”
In 1964, James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, who were helping to register black voters, were murdered on a lonely dirt road as they drove to a church to investigate a fire.
They were allegedly stopped by Klansmen, beaten and shot to death. Several weeks later, their bodies were found buried in a dam a few miles from the church.
Nineteen men, including Killen and many of them Klansmen, were indicted. Seven were convicted of federal civil rights violations in 1967 and sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to 10 years.
Killen was freed after his trial on federal conspiracy charges ended in a hung jury.
