Reputed Klansman Appeals Murder Convictions

By: Mary Foster, Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS - (AP) A reputed Ku Klux Klan member serving three life sentences for his role in the 1964 abduction and killings of two black Mississippi teenagers should not have been convicted because the statute of limitations had expired, his lawyer argued Monday.

James Ford Seale was convicted of kidnapping and conspiracy in the abductions of Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee, both 19, who disappeared from Franklin County in Mississippi May 2, 1964. Their decomposed bodies were later pulled from the muddy waters of the Mississippi River.

Kathy Nester, Seale's attorney, said Congress imposed a five-year statute of limitations in 1972, in the same act that abolished the death penalty for kidnapping.

Seale was convicted June 14, 2007.

STORY....

NAACP LEADS PROTEST OVER BOOT CAMP DEATH

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — About 700 protesters marched to the federal courthouse Tuesday to voice their outrage at the handling of a black teenager's death at a boot camp.
Shouting "we shall overcome" and "no justice, no peace," the marchers made their way past the Capitol to the courthouse, where several NAACP officials met with U.S. Attorney Gregory R. Miller and Justice Department officials.

"They pretty much assured us that they have taken these types of cases seriously in the past and they are definitely taking this case seriously," NAACP attorney Chuck Hobbs said of the meeting. "They are going to make sure no stones are left unturned in the determination of the facts."

The NAACP-sponsored protest comes less than two weeks after an all-white jury acquitted seven camp guards and a nurse of manslaughter charges in the death of Martin Lee Anderson, a 14-year-old black inmate.

Anderson died Jan. 6, 2006, a day after being hit and kicked by the guards as the nurse watched after he collapsed while running laps. The 30-minute confrontation was videotaped.

Protesters said they want federal authorities to investigate what they allege are civil rights violations by former boot camp staffers and others, including Florida's former top law enforcement official.

After meeting with the NAACP, Miller and the representatives from the civil rights division and FBI met with Martin Lee Anderson's parents and their counsel.

Miller's office said "if there is sufficient evidence to establish a prosecutable violation of any federal criminal civil rights statutes, appropriate action will be taken." It declined further comment on an open investigation.

Defense attorneys argued that the camp workers were using accepted tactics and that the boy died because of a pre-existing medical condition.

The U.S. Justice Department announced within hours of the Oct. 12 verdicts that it was reviewing the state's prosecution.

The protest also targeted former Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Guy Tunnell. He was Bay County's sheriff when his office founded the camp and now works as an investigator for the state attorney's office in the area.

The civil rights organization wants Tunnell investigated for allegedly trying to prevent the videotape from being made public, making racist remarks related to the case and inappropriately communicating with current Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen about the death. The sheriff's office ran the now-defunct boot camp under state supervision.

Joe Grammer, spokesman for State Attorney Steve Meadows, said Tunnell would not discuss the boot camp case. Tunnell is not authorized to speak to the media, Grammer said.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

NOT GUILTY

Florida boot camp staff cleared in teen's death.

By Jim Loney

MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida jury acquitted seven former guards and a nurse of manslaughter on Friday in the death of a 14-year-old boy whose beating by the guards at a juvenile boot camp was caught on videotape.

The death of Martin Lee Anderson, who was sent to the detention camp for joyriding in his grandmother's car, sparked widespread outrage when the tape was made public, leading to accusations of a cover-up against then Gov. Jeb Bush, protests at the state capitol and closure of Florida's boot camps.

Florida agreed this year to pay $5 million to Anderson's family.

Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Anderson's parents, called the not guilty verdict issued by a jury in Panama City, Florida, "a tough pill to swallow."

"You kill a dog, you go to jail. You kill a little black boy, nothing happens," he said, in an apparent reference to NFL quarterback Michael Vick, who pleaded guilty to federal dogfighting charges in August and faces up to five years in prison.

The former boot camp staff members had faced up to 30 years in prison if convicted.

Anderson collapsed during an exercise drill on January 5, 2006, a few hours after he arrived at the detention center for young offenders in the Florida Panhandle. He died at a hospital the next day.

A medical examiner initially ruled that Anderson died of natural causes -- internal bleeding from sickle cell trait, a previously undiagnosed blood disorder that occurs in one in 12 African-Americans and does not usually cause health problems.

The finding angered the boy's parents, who launched a lawsuit after publication of the videotape. The video showed the boy was kicked and hit repeatedly by guards.

The parents initially accused Gov. Jeb Bush, the younger brother of U.S. President George W. Bush, of a cover-up. The governor later condemned the actions of the guards and appointed a special prosecutor who brought the manslaughter charges in November.

A second autopsy found the boy died of suffocation because his mouth was blocked and he was forced to inhale ammonia smelling salts, which resulted in a blockage of his airway. The medical examiner said he died as a result of the "actions of the guards."

The U.S. Justice Department said it was looking into the case and would "take appropriate action if the evidence indicates a prosecutable violation of federal criminal civil rights statutes."

After the verdict, about 300 protesters, mainly students, marched to the capitol in Tallahassee, chanting "no justice, no peace." They were met by a handful of state lawmakers who said they were incredulous at the ruling.

"This was not something he (Anderson) wrote in a journal. This is something that we actually saw. We saw him being murdered on television," said Frederica Wilson, a state senator from Miami.

(Additional reporting by Michael Peltier in Tallahassee)