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Title
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U.S. Lays Negro Beating to Deputy
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Source Type
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Newspapers
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Publisher
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Independent
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Publication Place
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Long Beach, CA
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Publication Date
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01/18/1967
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Transcript
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New York Times Service, MONTGOMERY, Ala. -, The Department of Justice accused a white former deputy, sheriff Tuesday of beating up, a Negro who was taken dead, from his jail cell last November in nearby Weumpka., Acting hours after an all-, white Elmore County grand, jury decided not to return an, indictment in the case, the, department declared that the, former deputy, Harvey Conner, "did willfully assault,, strike, beat and injure" James, Earl Motley, who died in jail, Nov. 20, Under the government's, charges, Conner faces a maximum penalty of one year's, imprisonment and a $1,000, fine. The case against him is, based on a federal "Color of, Law" statute - one of sever-, al civil rights laws passed by, Congress during Reconstruction - making it a, misdemeanor to deprive a citizen of rights guaranteed him, by the federal Constitution., One of these rights, the, department said, is the right, not to be punished without a, trial., Conner was serving as a, deputy in Elmore County,, eight miles northeast of here,, as recently as Monday, when, a new sheriff, Sidney Thrash,, assumed office and did not, reappoint him., Three young Negroes had, said in interviews that Conner, had beaten Motley before taking him to jail, And the, undertaker who took the, body from the jail said it was, covered with blood and the, skull was fractured., Although the grand jury, gave no reason for its deci-, sions, Dr. Joseph R. Benson,, the county coroner, said last, week that he had issued a formal opinion that the death, was "accidental" and had informed the grand jury of his, opinion., He said law enforcement, officers had told him that Motley, a laborer for a construction firm, had fallen while entering the jail, and from his, bunk in the jail cell., But the Alabama Journal,, an afternoon daily in, Montgomery, reported recently that it has found a witness,, whom it did not name, who, gave a different account of, Motley's entry into the jail.
