AP News, June 12th, 2007
The prosecution wrapped up its case Tuesday against a reputed Klansman charged with federal kidnapping and conspiracy in the May 1964 deaths of two black teenagers.
The final testimony came from a retired FBI agent who said a fellow agent confronted James Ford Seale about his involvement in the deaths.
Ed Putz told the jury about the conversation with Seale after they assisted state Highway Patrol officers in his arrest in November 1964 on a state murder charge, which was later dropped.
"'You didn't even give them a decent burial,'" Putz testified his partner, Lenard Wolf, told Seale. "'We know you did it. You know you did it. God knows you did it.'"
Putz said Seale responded: "Yes. I'm not going to admit to it. You're going to have to prove it."
One of Seale's defense attorneys, George Lucas, asked whether Seale's statement could be considered a challenge rather than an admission of guilt.
"It's an admission," Putz said firmly.
Seale, 71, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, frequently whispered to his public defenders during Putz's testimony. At one point Seale took a yellow square of paper, jotted down a note and pushed it into his attorney's hand.
Charles Marcus Edwards, a confessed Klansman who last year was granted immunity from prosecution, has testified that he and Seale, a longtime friend, belonged to a Klan chapter, or "klavern," headed by Seale's late father. Seale has denied ever belonging to the KKK.
Edwards told the jury that he saw Seale hold a sawed-off shotgun on Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, both 19, while the young men were beaten. He said Seale later told him about how Dee and Moore were dumped into a remote backwater of the Mississippi River to drown.
Parts of the badly decomposed bodies were discovered more than two months later.
Defense attorneys plan to call about a half-dozen witnesses, but they say Seale will not testify.
Jurors could begin deliberating the case later this week. Seale faces up to life in prison if convicted.
