Abstract
This chapter focuses on the arrest of the men who murdered Mickey Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney. Based on two confessions of Klan members, on December 4, 1964, federal prosecutors from the US Justice Department arrested the nineteen men identified by the FBI as the murderers, plus two men accused of withholding knowledge of the felony—twenty-one men in all. The men who were residents of Meridian were now being held at the county jail. Luke and Freeman feared that they would be locked in jail with the murderers. However, the US Justice Department could not actually charge the accused with the crime of murder. Murder is rarely a federal crime and only if it occurs on federal property. Otherwise, the crime of murder is covered by state laws. Instead of murder, nineteen men were charged with “conspiring to violate the civil rights of Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman,” and the remaining two, with “refusing to provide information about the murders.” The accused murderers were eventually freed under bond. With their bail paid, Luke and Freeman were also released from jail.
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