On this day, Oct. 20, 1967
Examiner Staff Writer 10/20/08
Seven men were convicted of civil rights violations in Meridan, Miss., for participating in a Ku Klux Klan conspiracy to murder three young civil rights workers.The trial, popularly known as the Mississippi Burning case, was prosecuted as a civil rights case by the U.S. Justice Department because state officials refused to prosecute the slayings of voting rights activists James Chaney, 21, Andrew Goodman, 20, and Michael Schwerner, 24.
The charges were lodged against Sheriff Lawrence Rainey, Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price and 16 other men. Price and Klan Imperial Wizard Samuel Bowers were among the seven men found guilty.
The civil rights workers were killed on June 21, 1964, after Price pulled the trio over for allegedly speeding. Chaney, the driver, was arrested, and Goodman and Schwerner were booked “for investigation.”
Price notified his Klan associates and then released the men. He followed the trio to the edge of town, and then pulled them over with his police siren. He held them until the Klan arrived. They were taken to an isolated spot, where Chaney was beaten and all three were shot to death.
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