Ellington

The U.S. Supreme Court set an August 9 deadline last week for the U.S. Department of Justice to respond to the appeal of former Ku Klux Klansmen James Ford Seale, WLBT reported yesterday.

In 2007, a federal jury found Seale guilty of kidnapping and conspiracy in the 1964 abduction and murders of Charles Moore and Henry Dee. Klansmen beat and threw the 19-year-old victims into the Mississippi River near Meadville, Miss., possibly while they were still alive.

In March, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Seale's conviction.

Seale, 74, is serving three life sentences in federal prison.

The Jackson Free Press revealed in 2005 that Seale was still alive after a reporting trip to Franklin County with Charles Moore's brother, Thomas. For background, read the JFP's archive of award-winning coverage of the investigation and the trial here.