Ex-Klansman faces dying in jail after 60-year sentence

THE 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen faces dying in prison after he was jailed for the maximum 60 years yesterday for masterminding the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers.

The judge, Marcus Gordon, sentenced Killen to 20-year terms for each of three counts of manslaughter. The terms are to run consecutively.

Killen was convicted on Tuesday, 41 years after Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman were killed. Their deaths were dramatised in the 1988 film Mississippi Burning.

Mr Gordon said he took no pleasure in the task and said the law made no distinction based on the defendant's age at the time of sentencing.

"I have taken into consideration that there are three lives involved in this case and the three lives should absolutely be respected," Mr Gordon said.

Killen is the only person who has faced state murder charges in the case.

He was tried on three counts of murder but, at the request of prosecutors, Mr Gordon allowed the jurors to consider the lesser charge of manslaughter as well.

James McIntyre, the defence lawyer, has said he will appeal, arguing that the jury should not have been allowed to consider manslaughter.

Mr Gordon will hear a motion for a new trial on Monday.