Demonstrating again that there’s the law and then there’s justice, Jerry Mitchell reports:
Reputed Klansman James Ford Seale’s kidnapping conviction was tossed out Tuesday by a federal appeals court.
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated Seale’s 2007 conviction [20-page pdf here], concluding the federal statute of limitations on kidnapping had expired.
While the enforcement of such statutes “in some cases deprives society of its ability to prosecute criminal offenses, that is the price we pay for repose,” wrote Judge Harold DeMoss Jr.
A U.S. District Court jury convicted Seale last year over his alleged involvement in the May 2, 1964, abduction and killings of two African-American teenagers, Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, from Franklin County. …
“We spent a great deal of time and effort in this case,” [U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton] said. “They were just brutal murders. The court didn’t reverse it on the facts. They reversed it on a technicality.”
The three-judge panel seemed to acknowledge that when it said: “While we are mindful of the seriousness of the crimes at issue, we cannot abdicate our duty to faithfully apply a valid limitations period.” …
Seale’s wife told Mitchell, “I’ve prayed and prayed. Now you can get the man who’s really guilty” — and hung up without saying who she thinks that is. Henry Dee’s brother Thomas said, “It’s a shock, but there’s nothing I can do. The truth was told, and the law is the law.” Now he and the others
who saw the killings of their loved ones go unpunished must decide if they’re looking for justice, Thomas Moore said. “Or are we just looking for closure?”
The June 2007 trial revealed the truth of what happened that fateful day, he said. Nothing, he said, not even Tuesday’s decision, “can take that away.”
At my remove from this case, it seems its contemporary figures — Lampton’s staff prosecuting Seale, Federal Assistant Public Defender Kathy Nester arguing for him before the 5th, and the 5th Circuit panel ruling on it all — lived up to their oaths and did their best. But I perceive History itself howling at the powers who for decades did the opposite. Their repose actually stayed quite active, busily ensuring that justice would be denied, leaving only closure available.
May Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore rest in eternal peace. May James Ford Seale and his ilk never see it.
The law is the law.
If I were the judge, I would have done the same thing.
You have to do what the law says.
If you do not like the law or a law, then change it.
Tell Congress or vote out those who are not on your side.
Vote in those who are.
The power is with the people.
Not with the courts.
You have the power to change it all.
Do nothing, and you get nothing.
I am,
George Vreeland Hill
Could someone please explain the purpose/validity of a statute of limitations for heinous crimes like this? It seems that the more heinous the crime, the longer the statute should be? Or why even have a limitation at all?
Or if the limitation is legit/good, then why wouldn’t prosecutors (who should have known?) be open to malicious prosecution charges from the “innocent” accused?!
Amazing! I appreciate the distinction between law and justice, but it seems that reasonable people should be able to align the law with justice better than this.
Seales wasn’t/isn’t “innocent.” Just Not Guilty by operation of law. The US Attorney and the trial judge knew … or should have known … that prosecution of these charges was time-barred. I would have liked being a fly on the walls of the CA5 judges chambers as they decided this appeal … it just breaks their backs and their hearts to have to reverse a criminal conviction.
Due to the fact that we have often seen courts of appeals find loopholes in the SOLs or otherwise dodge such arguments to allow/confirm successful prosecution of these old civil rights era crimes, I don’t think it was a foregone conclusion that this would be the result. I think Lampton, armed with enough facts, legitimately felt a duty to prosecute. I am glad that he did. And I won’t second guess that decision, despite this outcome. And I doubt that the victims’ families will either.
Only when all that can be legally done, has been done, can their be closure (at least from a legal standpoint). IF it is earthly justice to be done, then such is now outside the parameters of the law. An eye for an eye would sound mighty tempting if I were in their shoes. And the fact that this is really the only avenue for earthly justice available to these families perhaps shows that we need to reexamine these SOLs laws for crimes (especially violent crimes) and change those laws to prevent further legal injustice or the need for vigilante action.
There’s no statute of limitations for murder. He can be prosecuted in state court.
I thought part of this crime happened in the national forest. Anyone know why this wasn’t a federal murder case? I’m sure there’s a reason, but I’ve not heard it.
(From Dragoman)
NMC @ 5: I believe the victims were still alive, though badly beaten, when they were taken from the Homochitto National Forest. They were then transported to Louisiana and drowned.
I think Lampton, armed with enough facts, legitimately felt a duty to prosecute.
Like he did in the Diaz case? I trust Lampton about as far as I can throw him, whether it’s a prosecution I admire or not. Whatever motivates his choices, the law doesn’t seem to play a large role.
And Kathy Nester deserves a shout-out for doing her duty as defense counsel in a very distasteful case, and obviously doing it very well.
And Kathy Nester deserves a shout-out for doing her duty as defense counsel in a very distasteful case, and obviously doing it very well.
Amen.