James Ford Seale, former Klansman convicted of kidnapping Henry Dee and Charles Moore in 1964, is back in the Supreme Court with a certiorari petition in No. 09-11229, Seale v. United States. (He also killed them, but murder as such is not a federal offense.)
Prior posts are here and here. The Stevens/Scalia dissent from the Court's prior dismissal of the statute of limitations question certified by the Fifth Circuit is here. The Fifth's subsequent opinion on the remaining issues is here. Interestingly, those other issues include a "Christian burial speech":
This is over a decade before Brewer v. Williams, 430 U.S. 387 (1977). It's even before Miranda v. Arizona.
Prior posts are here and here. The Stevens/Scalia dissent from the Court's prior dismissal of the statute of limitations question certified by the Fifth Circuit is here. The Fifth's subsequent opinion on the remaining issues is here. Interestingly, those other issues include a "Christian burial speech":
We know that on Saturday afternoon May 2, 1964, you picked up in your car Henry Dee and Charles Moore, two Negro boys from Roxie. You and Charles Edwards and others took them to some remote place and beat them to death. You then transported and disposed of their bodies by dropping them in the Mississippi River. You didn't even give them a decent burial. We know you did it, you know you did it, the Lord above knows you did it.
This is over a decade before Brewer v. Williams, 430 U.S. 387 (1977). It's even before Miranda v. Arizona.
The KKK is a lawyer and judge founded, and led fraternal organization. It illustrates the effect of liability and immunity on the growth and shrinkage of an entire enterprise. It underwent on-off-on-off experimentation over the past 100 years with consistent results.
(On) After the war, it lynched and intimidated successful black achievers. These mass murders were done openly in public and enjoyed immunity from local prosecutors and judges. It is certain these lawyers profited from the confiscatory business model of the KKK. They lynched the well to do, and took their assets.
(Off) The KKK act was passed. Dozens of these lawyers and other KKK members were executed after brief military tribunals. Black folks thrived under the protection of the law, but without any affirmative action.
(On) The disputed election of 1876 resulted in a deal with the Democrat party. The Republicans would get the Presidency, but would remove the troops and end the Reconstruction. That ended the executions of KKK members and lawyers.
The KKK grew to millions of members and continued its business plan of public lynchings and seizures of the assets of dead well to do, successful blacks and a few Jews.
It stayed that way until the 1950's. Returning GI's saw their fellow black vets treated badly, and decided that was not right.
(Off) The FBI fully infiltrated the KKK, and civil litigation was allowed to proceed against it. It went bankrupt, and is relegated to web site activity now.
This defendant got caught in the transition period from immunity to liability, thus the confusion. He should be tortured to reveal the names of his accomplices, then shot in the head on the spot.
Property law question. Forget about anti-corporation, black Commie lawyer delusions about reparations. That is just hijacking productive entities.
Can a title ever get quieted if acquired by murder and mass murder, even after 60 years? If there is a question about that, a class action law suit should retrieve the value of the confiscated assets for the heirs of victims of the KKK. Because the KKK acted as an agent of local government, got fully immunity from it, the compensation should come from the responsible government entities. If a state is bankrupted by such judgment, so much the better. To deter.