Prosecutor Responds to "Why Only Killen?"
Neshoba County, Miss.
Reporter: Chris Brennaman
Email Address: chris.brennaman@wtok.com
In June of 2005, 41 years after three civil rights workers were killed in Neshoba County, one person was convicted in the deaths.
Edgar Ray Killen was found guilty on three counts of manslaughter for the 1964 deaths of Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman.
A new documentary questions why Killen is the only one to be prosecuted for the killings, when others believed to be associated with the crime are still alive.
The documentary, "Why Only Killen?" was shown over the weekend at a Meridian church. Neshoba County district attorney Mark Duncan tried to answer that question Tuesday,
"Everybody ought to remember that we presented all the evidence that we could to a grand jury and they were free to indict how many of them that they thought was justified to do so by the evidence, and they chose to only indict Edgar Ray Killen," Duncan said.
The D.A. says, based on the evidence that was available, he believes the grand jury made the right decision. Duncan said there was far more evidence against Killen.
One of the questions raised by filmmaker John Gibson is based on the level of evidence available in the 1960s.
Duncan responded by saying that some of that was no longer admissible in court..
He said an example is a confession, by a person now deceased, that implicated others.
The 43rd anniversary of the deaths of Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman is approaching.
An annual remembrance, the Caravan for Justice, is planned in the Longdale community of Neshoba County for June 23-24.
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