Killen Gets 60 Years in '64 Killings

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. — Gazing down at Edgar Ray Killen, who was once his parents' preacher, Neshoba County Judge Marcus Gordon on Thursday imposed the maximum sentence of 60 years in prison for the 1964 slayings of Andrew Goodman, James E. Chaney and Michael H. Schwerner. "It is my responsibility to make that decision, and I have done it," Gordon, 73, said from the bench.

The judge acknowledged that Killen was 80 years old and that he was badly injured in a March sawmill accident when a tree fell on him, breaking both his legs. Imposing the punishment gave him no pleasure, Gordon said. Then he sentenced Killen to three consecutive 20-year prison terms, one for each victim.

"Each life has value," Gordon said, "and each life is equal to other lives. There are three lives involved in this case, and three lives should be respected."

A multiracial jury on Tuesday convicted Killen, a former local recruiter for the Ku Klux Klan, on three counts of manslaughter in the crimes depicted in the film "Mississippi Burning." Prosecutors said Killen had organized a mob to kill the three young men -- two white and one black -- who were in Philadelphia to register black voters. The jurors, who were asked to consider a murder charge, opted for the lesser charge of felony manslaughter.

Killen's lawyers have said they will appeal the verdict, perhaps on the grounds that prosecutors improperly used testimony from an earlier trial in the case. They plan to petition the court Monday to release Killen on bond pending the appeal.

Gordon was an unflappable presence through the six-day trial, which drew dozens of national and international news crews to Philadelphia. In an interview after the sentencing, Gordon said he had received death threats as the trial date approached. But he said the case had not imposed a particular burden on his shoulders.

Like Killen, Gordon grew up in the hamlet of Union, Miss., about 15 miles south of here. His parents attended a church where Killen preached. When Gordon's parents died within days of each other, Killen preached at their double funeral.

"My daddy respected his church," Gordon said. "He respected his preacher."

Gordon was a 32-year-old lawyer at the time of the murders. The killings and their aftermath, he said, unfairly stained the reputation of the community.

"That was not the act of Neshoba County. That was the act of a small, howling mob," Gordon said. "You have to look at yourself in the mirror before you say that the people of Neshoba County are backward and prejudiced."