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Prosecutors to Try Civil Rights Murder Case
Aired February 24, 2003 - 13:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Mississippi's capital city is revisiting its troubled civil rights history. Jury selection is underway today in Jackson for the retrial of a white man accused in the killing of a black man, a sharecropper, more than three decades ago. The murder was allegedly part of a plot to assassinate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
CNN's David Mattingly is live from Jackson, Mississippi with more -- David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, a bit of history being made here in Mississippi. We have seen a number of these murder cases from the civil rights era coming back to trial, but this is the first time federal prosecutors have taken a lead in this kind of a case. And to explain why, we need to take you back to the scene of the crime.
It happened back in 1966, deep in the woods outside of Natchez, Mississippi. It happened near a now-abandoned bridge where three white men, three Klansmen, allegedly decided to kill a black man in a plot to lure Martin Luther King Jr. to Natchez so he could be assassinated. They brutally murdered 67-year-old Ben Chester White. They shot him to death, then dumped his body over the bridge. And even in those troubled times, investigators say this case was particularly upsetting to them because, first of all, Ben Chester White was well-liked. He was not part of the civil rights movement, and he was seemingly picked at random to act as bait in this bizarre plot. Secondly, out of the three Klansmen who were accused in this crime, two of them later told investigators that they admitted to this crime, but none of the three men were ever convicted in a Mississippi courtroom.
Today, only one of those defendants remains alive. He is 72- year-old Ernest Avants. He is going back to trial because prosecutors recently discovered -- that was just a couple of years ago, they found out that the crime actually occurred on federal land, in a national forest, so federal prosecutors had jurisdiction.
And one former state investigator we talked to said that after what is now 37 years in waiting, he says it's about time this is something that's happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD BUTLER, FORMER MISSISSIPPI INVESTIGATOR: It was just a terrible tragedy. Here are three guys that committed a terrible murder, and they were allowed to walk free. That's not justice. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Avants was acquitted in a previous trial back in 1967, but this time, the jury will hear a confession he has reportedly made to an FBI agent, and that will be used against him in this trial even though he is pleading not guilty -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. David Mattingly live in Jackson. Thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 24, 2003 - 13:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Mississippi's capital city is revisiting its troubled civil rights history. Jury selection is underway today in Jackson for the retrial of a white man accused in the killing of a black man, a sharecropper, more than three decades ago. The murder was allegedly part of a plot to assassinate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
CNN's David Mattingly is live from Jackson, Mississippi with more -- David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, a bit of history being made here in Mississippi. We have seen a number of these murder cases from the civil rights era coming back to trial, but this is the first time federal prosecutors have taken a lead in this kind of a case. And to explain why, we need to take you back to the scene of the crime.
It happened back in 1966, deep in the woods outside of Natchez, Mississippi. It happened near a now-abandoned bridge where three white men, three Klansmen, allegedly decided to kill a black man in a plot to lure Martin Luther King Jr. to Natchez so he could be assassinated. They brutally murdered 67-year-old Ben Chester White. They shot him to death, then dumped his body over the bridge. And even in those troubled times, investigators say this case was particularly upsetting to them because, first of all, Ben Chester White was well-liked. He was not part of the civil rights movement, and he was seemingly picked at random to act as bait in this bizarre plot. Secondly, out of the three Klansmen who were accused in this crime, two of them later told investigators that they admitted to this crime, but none of the three men were ever convicted in a Mississippi courtroom.
Today, only one of those defendants remains alive. He is 72- year-old Ernest Avants. He is going back to trial because prosecutors recently discovered -- that was just a couple of years ago, they found out that the crime actually occurred on federal land, in a national forest, so federal prosecutors had jurisdiction.
And one former state investigator we talked to said that after what is now 37 years in waiting, he says it's about time this is something that's happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD BUTLER, FORMER MISSISSIPPI INVESTIGATOR: It was just a terrible tragedy. Here are three guys that committed a terrible murder, and they were allowed to walk free. That's not justice. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Avants was acquitted in a previous trial back in 1967, but this time, the jury will hear a confession he has reportedly made to an FBI agent, and that will be used against him in this trial even though he is pleading not guilty -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. David Mattingly live in Jackson. Thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
