Verict of Mississippi Burning
Judge Cox sentenced the seven on December 29, 1967. Roberts and Bowers were sentenced to ten years in prison, Posey and Price to six years and the other three convicted defendants to four years. After Judge Cox sentenced the seven men, he made the following statement, “They killed one nigger, one Jew, and a white man – I gave them all what I thought they deserved.” (Linder p6) Deputy Sherriff Cecil Price only served four of his six year sentence.
This case is an embarrassment to the United States justice system. Three innocent men were murdered, and justice was not served. By giving such a lenient punishment, Judge Cox is no better than the men who conspired to kill and ultimately murdered the three civil rights workers. Certainly, the majority of Americans in 1967 must have been shocked that such a lenient sentence was given for the commission of such barbarous acts. One consolidation, however, is that though the punishment for the convicted men was not harsh, thirty six years earlier those men would probably never have been convicted, not to mention punished for what they did.
