Justice may come: FBI investigates 100 civil rights-era cases.Maceo Snipes Snipes (Diminutive for Snipers) is a text-mode networked computer game that was created in 1983 by SuperSet software. Snipes is officially credited as being the original inspiration for Novell NetWare. , a black war veteran, was killed in 1946 when a carload carload In commodities trading, a railroad car or truckload of grain that ranges from 1,400 to 2,500 bushels. of white men up to the house where he was and shot him. nipes' niece, Lulu Kate Montfort, believes he was killed because he voted in the Georgia Democratic primary the day before. The unsolved murder is representative of crimes that Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III have announced will Ere-examined--all cases from the civil rights era that occurred before 1969. Fifty-six FBI field offices The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) operates 56 field offices in major cities throughout the United States and in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Many of these offices are further subdivided into smaller resident agencies which have jurisdiction over a specific area. have been tasked with opening cold case files to examine crimes still viable for prosecution. About 100 cases are under investigation. Specific details on the cases will not be released, but as many as 12 suspicious deaths have been stamped "high priority." Among the cases are 75 murders the Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an internationally known nonprofit organization that files Class Action lawsuits to fight discrimination and unequal treatment; it also tracks hate groups and runs a program to educate Americans about racism, anti-Semitism, and other forms of , a civil rights law firm, had looked into, independent of the FBI investigation. "These are cases we had researched," says Penny Weaver of the SPLC SPLC Southern Poverty Law Center SPLC Student Press Law Center (nonprofit organization dedicated to providing legal help and information to the student media and journalism educators) SPLC Splice SPLC Standard Point Location Code . "When we found out the FBI was going to look at old civil rights cases, we turned over everything we had." The SPLC is hopeful that these cases will be solved and that they lead to the arrest of those who committed the deadly hate crimes. Criminal convictions may also provide the victims' families with the opportunity to file wrongful death The taking of the life of an individual resulting from the willful or negligent act of another person or persons. If a person is killed because of the wrongful conduct of a person or persons, the decedent's heirs and other beneficiaries may file a wrongful death action law-suits. "Ultimately, we want anyone alive that was involved in these deaths brought to justice," says Weaver. The SPLC is in support of the proposed Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act--named after the black teen who was brutally murdered and mutilated mu·ti·late tr.v. mu·ti·lat·ed, mu·ti·lat·ing, mu·ti·lates 1. To deprive of a limb or an essential part; cripple. 2. To disfigure by damaging irreparably: mutilate a statue. in Mississippi in 1955 after he was accused of whistling at a white woman. The bill, which was reviewed but has not passed, would give the Justice Department and the FBI the power to create special investigative units dedicated to pursuing cold cases from the civil rights era. "We will do everything we can to close those cases and to close this dark chapter in our nation's history," Mueller said at a press conference in February. |
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