JACKSON, Miss. — A federal jury on Thursday convicted reputed Klansman James Ford Seale of kidnapping and conspiracy in the 1964 deaths of two black teenagers in southwest Mississippi.
Seale, 71, had pleaded not guilty to charges related to the deaths of Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee. The 19-year-olds disappeared from Franklin County on May 2, 1964, and their bodies were found in the Mississippi River.
Federal prosecutors indicted Seale in January almost 43 years after the slayings. When he is sentenced Aug. 24, he faces life in prison on the two counts of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy.
The prosecution's star witness was Charles Marcus Edwards, a confessed Klansman. During closing arguments earlier in the day, prosecutors acknowledged they made "a deal with the devil" but said offering immunity to a Edwards to get his testimony against Seale was the only way to get justice.
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Edwards testified that he and Seale belonged to the same Klan chapter, or "klavern," that was led by Seale's father. Seale has denied he belonged to the Klan.
