Court tosses Seale verdict

The Clarion-Ledger, 9/10/8

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, 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.