Entire 5th Circuit to decide whether Seale will go free

The Clarion-Ledger, 11/14/8

The entire 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has voted to hear arguments on whether a reputed Klansman should go free in the 1964 abductions of two African-American teenagers.

Last year, a U.S. District Court in Jackson convicted James Seale of Roxie on kidnapping and conspiracy charges related to the May 2, 1964, slayings of Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore. Seale was given three life sentences.

Earlier this year, a three-judge 5th Circuit panel ruled Seale’s conviction should be reversed and he should be freed.

But the decision that the entire court will hear arguments means Seale will remain for now in a federal prison in Terra Haute, Ind.