By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS, Associated Press Writer
from YAHOO! NEWS

JACKSON, Miss. - A federal jury on Thursday convicted reputed Klansman James Ford Seale of kidnapping and conspiracy in the 1964 deaths of two black teenagers in southwest Mississippi.

Seale, 71, had pleaded not guilty to charges related to the deaths of Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee. The 19-year-olds disappeared from Franklin County on May 2, 1964, and their bodies were found later in the Mississippi River.

Federal prosecutors indicted Seale in January almost 43 years after the slayings.

During closing arguments earlier in the day, prosecutors acknowledged they made “a deal with the devil” but said that offering immunity to a Klansman to get his testimony against James Ford Seale was the only way to get justice.

U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton summarized the evidence against James Ford Seale, who is being tried on charges of conspiracy and kidnapping related to the 1964 deaths of Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee. The 19-year-olds disappeared on May 2, 1964, and their bodies were found later in the Mississippi River.

If Seale, 71, is convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.

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