In an effort to get the bail granted to convicted killer Edgar Ray Killen revoked, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood filed papers asking the state Supreme Court to revoke the bond because relatives of Killen had threatened to kill the judge who granted the bail.

"Prior to the trial, a relative of Edgar Ray Killen threatened to kill the trial court judge and other individuals in the courtroom," Hood's petition to the Supreme Court said.

Killen was convicted in June on three counts of manslaughter for the deaths of civil-rights workers Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman in 1964. He has been free on $600,000 bond since last Friday.

Mississippi law requires that bail be set while a conviction is appealed, unless the conviction is for murder or child molestation. Because Killen is 80 years old and in poor health, letting him out on bond means he probably will never return to prison, since the appeal of his conviction could take years.

See Also:
Prosecutor Says Relative of Ex-KKK Member Threatened Judge in Civil Rights Killings Trial

Background:
The 'Mississippi Burning' Case
The Trial of Edgar Ray Killen