United States v. Price
United States v. Cecil Price, et al. also known as the "Mississippi Burning trial" (after the film of that name), was one of the most famous criminal trials in American history. The United States charged a group of 18 men with conspiring in a Ku Klux Klan plot to murder three young civil rights workers (Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman) in Philadelphia, Mississippi on June 21, 1964 (see Mississippi civil rights workers murders). The trial, conducted in Meridian, Mississippi with U.S. District Court Judge W. Harold Cox presiding, resulted in convictions of 7 of the 18 defendants.
Initial proceedings
| United States v. Price | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued November 9, 1965 Decided March 28, 1966 | |
| Full case name | United States v. Cecil Price, et al. |
| Citations | 383 U.S. 787 (more) 86 S. Ct. 1152; 16 L. Ed. 2d 267 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Indictments dismissed by District Court (reversed and remanded) |
| Subsequent | 7 of the 18 defendants convicted on remand |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Fortas, joined by a unanimous Court |
| Concurrence | Black |
Indictments were originally presented against 18 defendants, three of whom were officials of the Mississippi government, for conspiracy to commit as well as substantial violations of deprivation of rights secured or protected by the Constitution. The District Court initially dismissed the indictments, but the dismissal was unanimously reversed by the Supreme Court upon appeal. The trial then proceeded.
The verdict
Guilty verdicts were returned against:
- Cecil Price, the chief deputy sheriff of Neshoba County
- Sam H. Bowers, Jr., of Laurel, the Imperial Wizard of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
- Horace Doyle Barnette, a one-time Meridian salesman
- Jimmy Arledge, a Meridian truck driver
- Billy Wayne Posey, a Williamsville service station operator
- Jimmie Snowden, a Meridian laundry truck driver
- Alton W. Roberts, a Meridian salesman
Not guilty verdicts were returned for:
- Lawrence A. Rainey, the sheriff of Neshoba County
- Bernard L. Akin, a Meridian housetrailer dealer
- Travis M. Barnette, a Meridian mechanic and half-brother of Horace Doyle Barnette
- James T. Harris, a Meridian truck driver
- Frank J. Herndon, the operator of a Meridian drive-in restaurant
- Olen L. Burrage, the owner of the farm on which the bodies of Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman were buried
- Herman Tucker, the builder of the dam in which the bodies were found
- Richard A. Willis, a one-time Philadelphia policeman
No verdict was reached for:
- Edgar Ray Killen, a fundamentalist minister and sawmill operator, however on June 21, 2005 he was found guilty of 3 counts of manslaughter
- Ethel Glen Barnett, the Democratic nominee for Neshoba County sheriff
- Jerry McGrew Sharpe, a pulpwood hauler
The jury
An all-white, mostly working-class jury consisting of five men and seven women heard the case. The jurors were:
- Langdon Smith Anderson (foreman), a Lumberton oil exploration operator and member of the State Agricultural and Industrial Board
- Mrs. S.M. Green, a Hattiesburg housewife
- Mrs. Lessie Lowery, a Hiwannee grocery store owner
- Howard O. Winborn, a Petal pipefitter
- Harmon W. Rasberry, a Stonewall textile worker
- Mrs. Gussie B. Staton, a Union housewife
- Jessie P. Hollingsworth, a Moss Point electrician
- Mrs. James C. Heflin, a Lake production worker
- Mrs. Nell B. Dedeaux, a Lumberton housewife
- Willie V. Arneson, a Meridian secretary
- Edsell Z. Parks, a Brandon clerk
- Adelaide H. Comer, a cook at an Ocean Springs school cafeteria
Film adaptation
In 1988, a film was made based on the trial and the events surrounding it, entitled Mississippi Burning. It starred Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe as two FBI agents who travel to Mississippi to uncover the events surrounding the murder of three civil rights workers.
Several of the fictitious characters in the movie were based on real-life defendants in the trial. Deputy Sheriff Clinton Pell (played by Brad Dourif) was based on Cecil Ray Price, Sheriff Ray Stuckey (played by Gailard Sartain) was based on Sheriff Lawrence Rainey, and Frank Bailey (played by Michael Rooker) was based on Alton W. Roberts. The film also starred R. Lee Ermey and Frances McDormand.
See also
External links
- Text of United States v. Price, 383 U.S. 787 (1967) is available from: Findlaw Justia
- U. S. vs Cecil Price et al. ("Mississippi Burning" Trial)