Killen back in jail

Feeling that a “fraud” had taken place in his courtroom, Neshoba County Circuit Court Judge Marcus Gordon ordered Edgar Ray Killen, convicted this summer of manslaughter in the 1964 deaths of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Miss., back to jail.

Gordon had released Killen on bond during his appeal. Killen had testified last month that he was in constant pain and confined to a wheelchair after a logging accident in March. Gordon revoked the bond after witnesses testified that within two weeks after being released, they saw Killen walking around and driving. Gordon had said he took Killen’s poor health and lack of flight risk into consideration when granting him bond last month.

Killen was also scheduled to appear at a since-cancelled Edgar Ray Appreciation Day at the courthouse, which was being organized by a Jackson-area white supremacist.

Killen is the only person brought up on state charges in the murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner. Many of those accused of being part of the mob that killed them were tried on Federal charges in 1967; none served more than a few years, and Killen’s jury failed to reach a verdict.