[Yom Kippur is over, so I was catching up on some blogs and saw this at Prometheus 6, which reminded me I meant to put up the following overview of persons who faced federal charges in the 1960s for the murders of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner. This overview is courtesy of the Arkansas Delta Peace and Justice Center. For a companion to piece to Earl's thing at P6 and the overview, below, see Highways to Nowhere by Wallace Roberts.]
Persons who faced federal charges in the 1960s
No one has ever faced state murder charges or any other state charge.
Listed below: name, living or deceased, present residence.
1964
December 4, 1964
•FBI arrests 21 suspects in connection with the murders of the three civil rights workers.
•The 19 men charged with conspiring to deprive the three young men of their constitutional rights are:
Bernard Akin - deceased•The two men arrested on charges of withholding knowledge of a felony are:Jimmy Arledge - living, Meridian, MS
Horace Doyle Barnette - deceased
Travis Maryn Barnette - deceased
Otha Neal Burkes - deceased
Olen Burrage - living, Philadelphia, MS
James Thomas "Pete" Harris - living, Meridian, MS
Frank Herndon - deceased
James Edward Jordan - deceased
Edgar Ray "Preacher" Killen - living, Union, MS
Billy Wayne Posey - living, Meridian, MS
Deputy Cecil Price* - deceased
Sheriff Lawrence Rainey - deceased
Alton Wayne Roberts - deceased
Jerry McGrew Sharpe - deceased
Jimmy Snowden - living, Hickory, MS
Jimmy Lee Townsend - deceased
Herman Tucker - deceased
Oliver Warner - deceased
Earl Akin - deceased1965Tommy Horne - living, Meridian, MS
January, 15, 1965
•FBI arrests 18 in connection with the trio's killings. Original defendants Earl Akin, Burkes, Horne and Warner aren't indicted. Philadelphia Patrolman Richard Willis is added as a suspect.
•Original defendants not indicted are:
Earl Akin - deceased•Added as a suspect is:Otha Neal Burkes - deceased
Tommy Horne - living, Meridian, MS
Oliver Warner - deceased
Philadelphia Patrolman Richard Willis - living, Noxapater, MS1967
Feb. 28, 1967
•A federal grand jury indicts a new group of 19 defendants:
Bernard Akin - deceasedOct. 20, 1967Jimmy Arledge - living, Meridian, MS
Former and future sheriff E.G. "Hop" Barnett - deceased
Horace Doyle Barnette - deceased
Travis Maryn Barnette - deceased
Klan Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers - living, Central MS Correctional Facility
Olen Burrage - living, Philadelphia, MS
James Thomas "Pete" Harris - living, Meridian,MS
Frank Herndon - deceased
James Edward Jordan - deceased
Edgar Ray "Preacher" Killen - living, Union, MS
Billy Wayne Posey - living, Meridian, MS
Deputy Cecil Price* - deceased
Sheriff Lawrence Rainey - deceased
Alton Wayne Roberts - deceased
Jerry McGrew Sharpe - deceased
Jimmy Snowden - living, Hickory, MS
Herman Tucker -deceased
Philadelphia Patrolman Richard Willis - living, Noxapater, MS
•The jury convicts of conspiracy:
Jimmy Arledge - living, Meridian, MS•The jury acquits:Horace Doyle Barnette - deceased
Klan Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers - living, Central MS Correctional Facility
Billy Wayne Posey - living, Meridian, MS
Deputy Cecil Price* - deceased
Alton Wayne Roberts - deceased
Jimmy Snowden - living, Hickory, MS
Bernard Akin - deceased•Three men receive mistrials:Travis Maryn Barnette - deceased
Olen Burrage - living, Philadelphia, MS
James Thomas "Pete" Harris - living, Meridian, MS
Frank Herndon - deceased
Sheriff Lawrence Rainey - deceased
Herman Tucker - deceased
Philadelphia Patrolman Richard Willis - living, Noxapater, MS
E.G. "Hop" Barnette - deceased•Bowers and Roberts receive 10-year sentences; Price and Posey, six years; Arledge, Snowden and Horace Doyle Barnette, three years. By 1970, their appeals exhausted, they go to prison. None serve more than 6 years. Mississippi never charges anyone with murder or with anything else.Edgar Ray "Preacher" Killen - living, Union, MS
Jerry McGrew Sharpe - deceased
2001
May 6, 2001
•Cecil Price, who had begun to cooperate with state authorities investigating the trio's deaths, died of head injuries allegedly suffered in a fall. There were no reported witnesses to the alleged fall.
Comments