Name Alton Roberts | ||
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Born April 6, 1938 ( 1938-04-06 ) Died September 11, 1999, Meridian, Mississippi, United States Similar Cecil Price, Samuel Bowers, Edgar Ray Killen | ||
Alton Wayne Roberts (April 6, 1938 – September 11, 1999) was a Klansman convicted of depriving slain activists Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney of their civil rights in 1964. He personally shot two of the three civil rights workers before his accomplices buried their bodies in a dam.
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Early life
Roberts had a younger brother by the name of Raymond. Roberts played football during high school.
Murders
Roberts, then 26 years old, owned a bar in Meridian, Mississippi at the time of the murders.
On the night of June 21, 1964, Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner were riding in a station wagon together after they were released from jail earlier that night. Later on, deputy sheriff Cecil Price managed to pull them over and ordered the trio to get inside his police car. Price then drove them to a remote location on Rock Cut Road, where the other Klansmen had awaited for their presence.
When they arrived, Roberts reportedly pulled Schwerner out of the car, pointing a gun at his chest. "Are you that nigger lover?" Roberts asked, his left hand on Schwerner's shoulder. "Sir, I know just how you feel," Schwerner replied. Roberts then shot him in the heart and then grabbed Goodman, shooting him in the chest near his right shoulder. Chaney ran, but Roberts along with other Klansmen were able to shoot him dead before he could run any farther. Roberts fired into Chaney's lower back and his head. Prosecutors said that Roberts fired two of the three bullets found in Chaney's body.
Conviction
Roberts was indicted on February 28, 1967. He went to federal trial in Meridian on October 7 of that same year; 13 days later, he was convicted. At the sentence hearing on December 29, 1967, Judge William Harold Cox sentenced Roberts 10 years in federal prison. Roberts served no more than six years, and was free on appeal bond.
Encounter with Laurens Pierce
Roberts gained national recognition on January 27, 1965 when Jack Thornell took photos of him beating up CBS cameraman Laurens Pierce outside the federal courthouse in Meridian where he was in trial at the time. Roberts's encounter with Pierce was mentioned in the press the next day.
Personal life
Along with owning a bar, Roberts was also a window salesman and a mobile home salesman.
According to People, Roberts was running an after-hours set-up bar in Meridian during 1989.