Trial Delayed for Accused Mississippi Klansman

The murder trial of a suspected Ku Klux Klansman charged with the 1964 "Mississippi Burning" murders of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney has been delayed until April 18.

Edgar Ray Killen, who is now 80 years old, will go on trial in Philadelphia, MS three weeks after originally scheduled. Circuit Court Judge Marcus Gordon granted the delay to give his attorneys time to review new evidence that has been received since Killen's arrest.

Killen's federal civil rights trial for the murders in 1967 ended in a hung jury. He was one of 18 people tried in federal court -- only seven were convicted.

Investigators believe that Killen was the mastermind of the plot to kill the three civil rights workers after they were released from the Philadelphia jail on June 21, 1964. The three were working in the area to help blacks register to vote during the "Freedom Summer" campaign.

The notorious murders were the subject of the 1988 movie "Mississippi Burning."

See Also:
Mississippi Judge Delays Trial of Accused Klansman

Background:
Klansman Arrested in 1964 Civil Rights Murders
Freedom Summer