Edgar Ray Killen was sentenced today to twenty years for each of the three verdicts of guilty (to be run consecutively for a total of sixty years), for his involvement in the 1964 murders of Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James Chaney.

Judge Marcus Gordon said today, “the law does not recognize the distinction in age” and there is no provision for different sentences if the convicted were a twenty year old or an eighty year old.