Jackson Free Press

A judge Friday revoked the bond that allowed Edgar Ray Killen to stay out of prison while he appealed his manslaughter conviction for the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers. Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon ordered Killen returned to prison after a court hearing where District Attorney Mark Duncan said the 80-year-old Killen may have misrepresented his physical condition.

Defense lawyers had argued Killen was wheelchair-bound after breaking both legs in a logging accident. But a deputy sheriff reported he saw Killen last week walking around at a service station.

Read the JFP's NeshobaBlog here, which covered the Edgar Ray Killen trial and aftermath.

Previous Comments

ID

141919

Comment

um, surprize, surprize.

Author

Queen601

Date

2005-09-09T14:18:37-06:00

ID

141920

Comment

Hallelujah! Now if authorities can just find him a horny, black, 350-pound cellmate to share his remaining years with... Cheers, TH

Author

Tom Head

Date

2005-09-09T14:18:55-06:00

ID

141921

Comment

Tom, that's beneath even you. I'm just happy to see him back in jail. Now if we can keep him there this time...

Author

Ironghost

Date

2005-09-09T14:38:18-06:00

ID

141922

Comment

Argh! Where'd that word come from? Heat hasn't been kind. "Tom, that's beneath you." Better.

Author

Ironghost

Date

2005-09-09T14:41:38-06:00

ID

141923

Comment

Amen. And no offense taken on "beneath even you," but I gotta say these old coots really get under my skin. I have no idea why, but I remember being something like 12 years old and seeing Byron de la Beckwith on TV and freaking my mother out by telling her that whenever I saw him on the tube, I kind of wished somebody would strangle him. (She was freaked out for a reason; I almost never used violent metaphors. Still don't. It's not in my nature.) The really nasty serial killers don't have that effect on me, the drug market killers who make up the majority of convicted murderers don't have that effect on me, but Beckwith and Killen both get my Irish up, and it's not because they're racists. I think it's because they have palpable hate, palpable self-righteousness, a palpable sense that they are supreme, that they can do whatever they like because they're entitled to do it. And it's in their eyes, in their souls, in a way it isn't in the eyes and souls of the 18-year-old murderers I see on TV, who just look like confused kids who need a hug. I think spending 40 years as an unrepentant cold-blooded racist killer can do something very disturbing to a man's soul. I mean, at least with BTK you can say that he never fully appreciated the evil of what he did. But these boys do, and they like it--and you can see it in their eyes. No, I don't really wish Killen spent the rest of his life being raped in prison. But you know, that man scares me. Totally harmless now, I realize; he's old and weak and probably half-senile. But there's something really sinister about him, and I'm glad they put him back behind bars, that they took this evil thing off the streets. Cheers, TH

Author

Tom Head

Date

2005-09-09T15:21:11-06:00

ID

141924

Comment

Tom!!!

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2005-09-09T16:07:38-06:00

ID

141925

Comment

Good. It was a disgrace that he was out. Tom, ew! http://www.magnoliapolitics.blogspot.com/

Author

JoeJ

Date

2005-09-10T08:06:28-06:00

ID

141926

Comment

hmmm...Killen may have misrepresented his physical condition. Wouldn't that constitute PERJURY?

Author

Philip

Date

2005-09-10T16:48:08-06:00

ID

141927

Comment

I'm sure someone will have questions for his lawyer, rather pointed ones. Isn't that grounds for court action? Anyone know? I'm happy he's back in jail.

Author

Ironghost

Date

2005-09-10T21:46:54-06:00

ID

141928

Comment

Intriguing page on the MDOC Web site. Ran across it while looking for other stuff.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-01-31T21:32:28-06:00

ID

141929

Comment

I didn't recall he was out in Rankin County. Wow.

Author

Ironghost

Date

2006-01-31T21:57:48-06:00

ID

141930

Comment

Who else got a sick satisfaction of that scroll down on the charges with the years listed beneath them? If you missed it...go back...scroll down...giggle.

Author

Lori G

Date

2006-01-31T22:41:06-06:00

ID

141931

Comment

Update: He's got legs, and he knows how to use them.

Author

Tom Head

Date

2006-03-29T20:22:24-06:00