Edgar Ray Killen
Edgar Ray Killen | |
|---|---|
Booking photo, late 1964 | |
| Born | January 10, 1925 |
| Died | January 11, 2018 (aged 93) |
| Occupation(s) | KKK Kleagle, Baptist Minister |
| Criminal status | Deceased |
| Motive | White supremacy |
| Conviction | Manslaughter (3 counts) |
| Criminal penalty | 60 years imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 20 years |
| Details | |
| Victims | James Chaney, 21 Andrew Goodman, 20 Michael Schwerner, 24 |
| Country | United States |
| State | Mississippi |
Date apprehended | January 6, 2005 (for the last time) |
Edgar Ray Killen (January 10, 1925 – January 11, 2018) was an American Ku Klux Klan organizer who 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 the verdict, but the sentence was upheld on April 12, 2007, by the Supreme Court of Mississippi. He died in prison on January 11, 2018, at age 93.