Man convicted in 1964 KKK slayings dies in prison

[Judi Lynn]

Source: UPI

Man convicted in 1964 KKK slayings dies in prison
By JACK ELLIOTT JR. — Associated Press

Posted: 8:49am on Aug 3, 2011; Modified: 4:35pm on Aug 3, 2011


JACKSON, Miss. — James Ford Seale, who was convicted and imprisoned decades after the segregation-era abduction and killing of two young black men by Ku Klux Klansmen in rural Mississippi, has died, a spokesman with the federal Bureau of Prisons said.

Seale died Tuesday in Terre Haute, Ind., where he had been serving three life sentences after being convicted in 2007, Bureau of Prisons spokesman Edmond Ross told The Associated Press. He was 76.

~snip~
Seale was convicted of two counts of kidnapping and one of conspiracy to commit kidnapping in the 1964 deaths of Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, both 19.

~snip~
Prosecutors said Seale, a former crop duster, was with a group of Klansmen when they abducted Moore and Dee from a rural stretch of highway in southwest Mississippi. The Klansmen took the teens into the woods and beat and interrogated them about rumors that blacks in the area were planning an armed uprising, prosecutors said.


Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/08/03/Man-convicted-in-1964-racial-killings-dies/UPI-69921312422412/

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James Ford Seale
Ku Klux Klan man dies four years after jailing for 1964
Ford Seale was brought to justice 43 years after tying blocks to the feet of two teenagers and throwing them in river

Ed Pilkington in New York guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 3 August 2011 20.24 BST

James Ford Seale, who in 1964 committed one of the most gruesome acts of the segregationist South when he tied blocks to the feet of two black teenagers and threw them still breathing into the Mississippi river, has died – for the second time.

Seale's death was first announced in the pages of the Clarion Ledger, the Jackson paper that helped to put him behind bars when in 2000 it launched an investigation into the killing of Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee. But it took a further seven years before Seale was finally convicted, 43 years after the original murders. He was given life sentences for kidnapping and conspiracy.

Part of the reason that it took so long to obtain justice was that, after the Clarion Ledger investigation, Seale, a truck driver, went to ground. Neighbours in the small Mississippi town of Roxie said that he had died, a contention taken as fact and reported by several newspapers including the Los Angeles Times in 2002.

In July 2004 Moore's brother, Thomas, and a filmmaker from Canadian television went to Roxie to make a documentary about the killings. On camera Moore engaged a local in conversation, remarking how unfortunate it was that Seale had died before he could be brought to justice. "He ain't dead. I'll show you where he lives," the man replied.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/03/klansman-dies-1964-murders

[BigDemVoter]

1. That fucker. ..

I hope he's in a place where he'll be called on to account for his ugly behavior here.

[noiretextatique]

2. "Seale was finally convicted, 43 years after the original murders"

and that is the other tragedy, one that happened far too often, OJ notwithstanding.

[Chan790]

3. De mortuis nihil nisi bonum.

He's dead? Good!

[haikugal]

4. Good Riddance!!!!

[jwirr]

5. Good from one who remembers. The KKK were cowards.

[alp227]

6. K&R nt

[Starbucks Anarchist]

7. Good.

[Hoyt]

8. There were lots of others who might not have killed anyone who deserved punishment too.

I feel no sympathy for this guy, but there were hundreds of thousand/millions more who hurt millions with their bigotry/racism without committing what was defined as a "crime" at the time.

[SoapBox]

9. ...serving the rest of his eternity sentence in hell.

What a disgusting excuse for a human.

[classysassy]

10. Let us all forgive this disturbed man

Just remember" But for the grace of God,there go I"

[No Elephants]

12. I never had the urge to don a white hood and kill someone because of their skin color, so count me

out of that.

I usually don't post on a death thread unless I can say something positive, but I am not going to pretend that I narrowly escaped being this guy.

[Cirque du So-What]

11. What a shame

that We the People were only able to obtain 4 years' worth of justice before this horrible old bastid kicked the bucket. It's almost enough to make me wish there really is a hell.

[No Elephants]

13. +1. Same thing with the pedophile priests who were not arrested at all or only in their 70's and

80's, maybe after a lifetime of molesting kids.

Some were never arrested because they died first or because the state in question had a statute of limitations that did not permit prosecution by the time the victims came forward.

I believe Porter, for instance, got prosecuted because he had left the state after his crimes and that stopped time from running out. Still, he was in his 70's when Massachusetts finally caught up with him.

[No Elephants]

14. A gang of armed KKKers vs. two terrified African American teenagers in Jim Crow country. What a

brave bunch of what? (I really have no words that would not insult innocent Neanderthals or innocent knucke-dragging mammals.)

Were his companions ever punished, or did they all "die": soon afterward as well?

And look what it took to persuade local authorities to reopen the case! A photo of the man, alive and well in his own yard, brought to authorities by a journalist.

A writer researching the crimes almost a half century later learned the truth that easily, but local police were unaware all that time that Seale was alive? Please.