Charges in 1964 civil rights killings stand
JACKSON, Miss. -- A federal judge refused to dismiss charges Thursday against a reputed Ku Klux Klansman in the 1964 slayings of two black men, rejecting arguments that the statute of limitations ran out long ago.
U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate also denied a request to let James Ford Seale, 71, out on bail while he awaits trial. Seale's wife testified that her ailing husband was not getting proper medical care in jail.
Seale's lawyer Dennis Joiner asked Wingate to throw out the kidnapping charges. There was no time limit for filing federal kidnapping charges in 1964, but Joiner argued that when Congress in 1972 repealed a law that made kidnapping a capital offense, kidnapping became subject to a five-year statute of limitations.
The judge, however, sided with prosecutors, who contended the 1972 repeal did not apply retroactively.
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U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate also denied a request to let James Ford Seale, 71, out on bail while he awaits trial. Seale's wife testified that her ailing husband was not getting proper medical care in jail.
Seale's lawyer Dennis Joiner asked Wingate to throw out the kidnapping charges. There was no time limit for filing federal kidnapping charges in 1964, but Joiner argued that when Congress in 1972 repealed a law that made kidnapping a capital offense, kidnapping became subject to a five-year statute of limitations.
The judge, however, sided with prosecutors, who contended the 1972 repeal did not apply retroactively.