LAW 776 - Investigating and Reopening Civil Rights Murder Cases

College of Law
3-6 credit(s)

This three-credit course is the result of SUCOL’s effort to re-open the 1964 murder investigation of Frank Morris, a 51 year old African American business owner in Ferriday, Louisiana. Mr. Morris was pushed at gunpoint back into his burning store by suspected members of the Ku Klux Klan. He died four days later of burns over 100 % of his body. Although the FBI identified witnesses who pointed to two local law enforcement agents, no charges or indictments followed and the case was dropped. Seventy-five such cases have been identified by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice with the assistance of the NAACP, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Urban League. Students will each be assigned a different case to work up as a possible one to encourage the FBI to reopen. They will prepare chronologies, potential witness books, assess evidence and draft working memos of law on issues related to bringing this case to prosecution. Course projects will require consideration of a variety of legal issues, including state federal jurisdiction, federal laws on civil rights crimes, statutes of limitations speedy trial double jeopardy, mmunity, federal investigative and rosecutorial efforts, state and local prosecutions, and evidence. Course projects will require consideration of a variety of legal issues, including state/federal jurisdiction, federal laws on civil rights crimes, statutes of limitations/speedy trial/double jeopardy, immunity, federal investigative and prosecutorial efforts, state and local prosecutions, and evidence.