Alabama: Former Trooper Fowler fights murder charge in Jimmy Lee Jackson case
AP reports: An attorney for a former state trooper accused of a pivotal slaying in the civil rights movement argued in court Thursday that his client can t get a fair trial because of the death of witnesses, the loss of records and the celebration of history.
In the first day of a two-day hearing, defense attorney George Beck presented witnesses in hopes of showing that 42 years is too long to wait to prosecute former trooper James Bonard Fowler, 74, for the 1965 shooting of Jimmie Lee Jackson. Beck also tried to show that if there is a trial, it should be moved out of Marion, where historical markers memorialize Jackson and a highway in front of the Perry County Courthouse is named for him. ...
Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot on Feb. 18, 1965, when a voting rights march turned violent. Fowler, who entered a not guilty plea in court Thursday, maintains he shot Jackson in self defense when Jackson hit him with a bottle and tried to grab his pistol. --