Grand Jury Convenes To Investigate 1964 Cold Case

[Brewman_Jax]

From the article: In Concordia Parish, La., a grand jury has begun hearing testimony about an unsolved murder from the civil rights era. That comes less than one month after Stanley Nelson, the editor of the weekly Concordia Sentinel, first named a suspect in the death of Frank Morris, a respected shoe repair owner. And it was Nelson who first reported the grand jury had begun calling witnesses in the 46-year-old case.

Nelson grew up near Morris' shop, on the main street in Ferriday, La., a town just several miles across the Mississippi River from Natchez, Miss. He was 9 years old in December 1964, when Morris' store was set on fire with Morris trapped inside.

But Nelson only learned about Morris four years ago, along with the brutal Ku Klux Klan violence in his own community. That's when the FBI released a list of unsolved murders from the civil rights era.

"I like Frank Morris. I respect him. He was a good man," says Nelson. "I wish that I had known him. Every person that worked for Frank remembers him in such a good way. But Concordia Parish has not lifted a finger for Frank Morris. has not done anything for Frank Morris. But we can now. Justice is important for everybody."

Last month, the newspaper editor wrote the most important story of his career. On the front page, he named a suspect: Leonard Spencer, a former Ku Klux Klansman, who's now 72 and lives in a nearby parish. The sources were Spencer's own family members. They say Spencer and another Klansman, who's now dead, talked about setting the fire that night.

Spencer insists he wasn't involved.



http://www.npr.org/2011/02/15/133659641/grand-jury-convenes-to-investigate-1964-cold-case