Justice Department prosecutors said Tuesday that a federal appeals court should reconsider a ruling that could free a reputed Klansman serving three life sentences in the 1964 abductions and killings of two African-American teenagers.
In June 2007, a U.S. District Court jury convicted James Ford Seale of Roxie on kidnapping and conspiracy charges related to the May 2, 1964, abduction and slayings of Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee.
On Sept. 9, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the conviction of Seale, 73, ruling that the statute of limitations for kidnapping had expired in the more than 40 years between the abductions and his arrest.
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,” Judge Harold DeMoss Jr. wrote in a unanimous decision.
Magnolia Tribune
