Suspect in ’64 Miss. Killings Shatters Legs

Edgar Ray Killen, the reputed Klansman accused of killing three civil rights workers in 1964, broke both legs in a logging accident Thursday, his lawyer said.

A tree fell on the 80-year-old former lumber mill operator, knocking him out and shattering both his femurs, lawyer Mitch Moran said.

“It kind of drove him in the ground like a pile driver,” Moran said. He offered no information about any head injuries.

Moran said Killen would be moved to University Medical Center in Jackson after being treated Thursday night at Rush Foundation Hospital in Meridian, in east-central Mississippi.

Moran said Killen was talking but was on medication. He said that despite Killen’s age, he was “in pretty good shape.”

The accident happened when a tree Killen had cut fell onto another one, Moran said. As Killen cut the supporting tree, the top tree fell onto his head and drove him into the ground. People nearby called for help.

Killen was indicted in February on three counts of murder. He is accused of orchestrating the slayings of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman in rural Neshoba County.

A 1967 federal trial revealed that the killings were part of a Ku Klux Klan conspiracy.

Killen is scheduled to go on trial April 18.

Dist. Atty. Mark Duncan, contacted at his home, said, “We can be ready for trial at any time, but obviously if it’s some kind of serious injury it may affect the scheduling of the trial.”