Mississippi — Former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen was released from jail Friday on $600,000 bond while he appeals his manslaughter convictions and 60-year sentence in the 1964 killings of three civil rights workers.
Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon said he was convinced by testimony that Killen, who is 80 and uses a wheelchair, was neither a flight risk nor danger to the community.
"It's not a matter of what I feel, it's a matter of the law," Gordon said, citing previous cases that were appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court.
Killen refused to answer questions Friday as he got into a car with family members.
He was convicted June 21 for masterminding the 1964 slayings of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman. His conviction came 41 years to the day after the trio was mobbed and killed by Klansmen.
Jacob Ray, a spokesman for state Atty. Gen. Jim Hood, said the office was considering appealing Gordon's decision to the Mississippi Supreme Court.
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