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Dropped or thrown out?

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According to the New Zealand Herald Jan 27, article "Sheriff's deputy in court for 1964 Klan killing", story by Andrew Buncombe for the Independent, the charges were thrown out by a judge rather then being dropped by the local authories (as the article currently says). Of course, they may have purposely not bothered to gather sufficient evidence but I think we need to be accurate with what happened. So can someone verify which one is correct and update accordingly 203.109.240.93 13:33, 28 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Clarification of historical and media facts, Feb. 6, 2007

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This is Donna Ladd of the Jackson Free Press. Today, someone pointed me to this page to factcheck what has been posted, especially about the JFP's role in the case. I've edited the copy that pertains to the JFP slightly, as I know that news reports can be misleading and confusing. The main clarifications are that The Natchez Democrat was certainly not part of the reporting team (CBC & JFP) that was following Thomas Moore on that July 2005 trip back to Meadville, and only heard about our trip and wrote a quick news story about it. Also, the Democrat showed up at the end to photograph Thomas visiting the Roxie church and erecting memorial signs, but they were never part of the team's investigation. That addition is clearly erroneous.

Also, as is reported in the JFP's stories published in 2005 and since, the CBC had asked us earlier in the summer to cover the JFP covering the case, and we had agreed to work together on it. The case had long intrigued David Ridgen, and when we talked, I told him I wanted to find out more about the black men who were found in the Mississippi River in '64, so we agreed to work together. After we talked, David located Thomas in Colorado and asked if the CBC could pay to bring him to Mississippi and meet up with us in Meadville. In Meadville, it took very little time for the CBC and JFP to discover—silmultaneously, as it turned out—that James Ford Seale was still alive. We had split up for part of the day, with Kate Medley (photographer) and I going to Natchez to interview a former Klansman who knew Seale and Charles Edwards, and Thomas and David going to Roxie to report. The Klansman told us that Seale was still alive, and we straight went to the Natchez Democrat office to look for his obituary (the paper didn't know who we were). While in the archive room, we got a cell call from Thomas and David, excitedly saying that someone in a store in Roxie had told them he was still alive and they had gotten a video capture of him. We met up in Natchez then to compare notes. We reported in our first story on July 20, 2005, that Seale was still alive and how we all had figured it out. Hope that helps clarify that part.

The JFP has continued to investigate this and other civil-rights crimes in the area since the intitial visit, and has published a long package of stories, and has more on the way. (Full archive here is updated regularly: http://jacksonfreepress.com/justice.php ). We have also been in communication with the U.S. attorney's office, as well as other law enforcement, over the months since, but it is not appropriate at this point to say more about that. As for other factual stuff, I would only add that there is no evidence that we've seen that Seale was a former deputy sheriff, as the AP wire intially put out. There is a story linked to this Wikipedia page that says that he was a police office in Louisiana briefly in the 1970s, which seems to be solid. If we find any evidence that he was ever a deputy sheriff, we'll add it immediately.

To the question above about the case being "dropped," the fact is that the district attorney in January 1965 dismissed the charges because, he told the FBI, the men had spread the rumor that they had been roughed up by highway patrol, and he would likely not get an indictment if he allowed the case to go before the grand jury. (They were arrested in November 1964, got out immediately on $5,000 bond each, and the case was scheduled to go before the grand jury in January 1965.) My piece last week quotes the D.A., Lenox Forman's official statement, as well as the FBI report of their meeting with Forman. Someone has already linked it to the main page.

Because the history of Seale is much more relevant and interesting than the media involvement—smile—I will go in shortly and try to add more pertinent details about Seale's history, including his appearance before the House Un-American Affairs Committee, which I open my most recent article with.

Otherwise, if anyone has questions about the case or the facts, please e-mail me at ladd (at) jacksonfreepress (dot) com, and I'll be happy to help any way I can. (Please do not edit my comments here, though.) Thanks for the widespread interest this case is getting. That is very meaningful to us Mississippians who want justice, no matter how late.

- Donna Ladd, Jackson Free Press —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.173.190.89 (talk) 17:12, 6 February 2007 (UTC).[reply]

Klan membership

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I understand that he was acting as a Klansman when these murders were commited however perhaps we should make quite clear that it isn't illegal to just be a Klan member as many people live with the misconception that just being a member of the Ku Klux Klan is illegal, however in fact they are a recognised Christian organisation, recognised by the U.S. Supreme Court.

86.27.63.36 11:41, 7 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think the current article suggests that it is. It makes it clear he was convicted of only two things, kidnapping and conspiracy. Superm401 - Talk 00:09, 22 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
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