Edgar Ray Killen | |
|---|---|
Booking photo, late 1964 | |
| Born | January 17, 1925 |
| Died | January 11, 2018 (aged 92) |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Preacher |
| Criminal status | Deceased |
| Conviction(s) | Manslaughter (3 counts) |
| Criminal charge | Murder (3 counts) |
| Penalty | 60 years imprisonment |
Edgar Ray Killen (January 17, 1925 – January 11, 2018) was an American murderer and Ku Klux Klan organizer.
Killen planned and directed the murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, three civil rights activists participating in the Freedom Summer of 1964. He was found guilty in state court of three counts of manslaughter on June 21, 2005, the forty-first anniversary of the crime, and sentenced to 60 years in prison. He appealed against the verdict, but the sentence was upheld on April 12, 2007, by the Supreme Court of Mississippi.
On February 25, 2010, the Associated Press reported that Killen filed a lawsuit against the FBI. The case was dismissed by a judge a year later in February 2011.
Killen died in prison in Parchman, Mississippi on January 11, 2018, six days before his 93rd birthday.
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