it was not enough to have a guilty verdict. she understood that there was something much more nefarious at play. and so she brought a civil suit against the klan in alabama. this was an opportunity to take down one of the longest-standing white supremacist, domestic terrorist organizations that existed in the nation. think about this. this is a black woman who s just lost her son to lynching, finds the strength to move forward in a civil suit against the klan in alabama. it s almost unimaginable.
we say, police brutality. and white folks see that same film, and say to the jury, he resisting arrest . they figure they can kill a black person, the all white jury, they ll find him not guilty. and that s been the practice over the years. the admitted klansman stood stone-faced as the verdict was read, but moments later turned ashen, as the words guilty of capital murder sank in. there were gasps and muffled cries in the packed courtroom, not only from hays family, but the family of michael donald as well. it took the jury 26 minutes to recommend life without parole. judge braxton kittrell will sentence hays on january 19th. in the state of alabama, the way the law works is the jury gets to make the recommendation for sentencing in a capital crime. they can either recommend life without parole or they can recommend death. this particular jury for henry hays recommended life without parole. however, a white judge, in the mid 80s, in mobile alabama, rejected that recommendat
the body of a black man was found hanging, lynch style, from a tree in a residential street in mobile, alabama. that was more than two years ago. today, a courtroom heard that the killing was the work of the ku klux klan. mrs. donald did not attend the trial because, i think, that it would have been too painful. she d lost a child, and to have to relive that would be devastating to any parent. consider what beulah mae donald was going through while trying to secure justice for michael donald, while grieving his death. consider what gwen carr is going through now, in the wake of eric
there were threats on my life. everybody hated me. everybody hated me. at that point, we reached an agreement with jeff sessions. and the agreement was, since tiger had incriminated henry hays, tiger would be allowed to plead guilty to a civil rights violation in the federal system, and was to have been sentenced to a life term. and then we would try henry in state court for capital murder. promises were made to tiger knowles for his cooperation, and he knew that he was a dead man in state prison. if he got convicted in the state court of anything, and he went to prison in the state of alabama, he was done for. i m not a psychologist, but it s my opinion, henry murdered michael donald to please his father.
it was the first time, since at least the early 1900s, and possibly longer, that a white had been sentenced to death for a crime committed against a black person in the state of alabama. as a young man, who was born and raised in the south, i am just proud to be in this chair, on this day, when a white man has been sentenced to die for murdering a black. nobody, not then, not today, 39 years later, ought to be, you know, running a victory lap. the only conclusion you can reach is that everybody lost. two families was destroyed from the hatred that went on. it was just a sad situation. it was. two families were destroyed. bennie hays, obviously, felt that he was so powerful that he was above the law.