5 ms·

1955 warrant in Emmett Till case found, family seeks arrest

49 points by ohjeez 4y ago

l30n4da5 4y ago
I'm genuinely curious about this. I skimmed the article and didn't see mention of this, but does the statute of limitations apply here?
- cryptonector 4y ago
  Generally there's no statute of limitations on murder.
  - voisin 4y ago
    This isn’t murder though. It would be perjury or something along those lines.
    - Dracophoenix 4y ago
      According to the article, the warrant says kidnapping, a crime for which there is no statute of limitations. However, the district attorney for the case would have to show probable cause to enforce the arrest warrant. There's little chance of establishing that absent rediscovery of evidence or the existence of new witnesses from a crime that occurred nearly 70 years ago. There's also the issue of their being only one living witness relevant to the ordeal. And she is unlikely to say anything even if she were to possess a steel trap of a memory.
    - cryptonector 4y ago
      Emmett Till was murdered.
      - voisin 4y ago
        Yes I understand, but the perpetrators were acquitted. So how could the woman be found guilty?
- cmpb 4y ago
  From the article: >Arrest warrants can “go stale” due to the passage of time and changing circumstances, and one from 1955 almost certainly wouldn’t pass muster before a court, even if a sheriff agreed to serve it, said Ronald J. Rychlak, a law professor at the University of Mississippi. >But combined with any new evidence, the original arrest warrant “absolutely” could be an important stepping stone toward establishing probable cause for a new prosecution, he said.
  - yieldcrv 4y ago
    yes, this needs to be done. I don't understand what the new evidence is though, I skimmed the further linked article
dredmorbius 4y ago
Among the reasons the Emmett Till case gained such prominence was that Mamie Till Mobley, Till's mother, insisted that he have an open-casket funeral, and Jet magazine ran a photo of his corpse on the cover. If you've seen a photo of Till, it's probably of a sharp-dressed youth in a coat and hat, as featured in this AP piece. That's not what was returned to Tills' family. The question of whether or not to show the harms of unlimited violence are rising again with the proliferation of mass shootings in the US, war in Ukraine and elsewhere, and other forms of violence. The Bill Moyers link below does show the funeral photo. CW: mutilated corpse. https://billmoyers.com/content/key-moments-in-the-fight-for-civil-rights/2/ https://billmoyers.com/content/key-moments-in-the-fight-for-... The story of Tills's funeral is covered by Smithsonian Magazine here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/emmett-tills-open-casket-funeral-reignited-the-civil-rights-movement-180956483/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/emmet...
RcouF1uZ4gsC 4y ago
> Donham set off the case in August 1955 by accusing the 14-year-old Till of making improper advances at a family store in Money, Mississippi. This is so misogynistic. The responsibility for kidnapping and murder falls squarely on the men who did it. Blaming a woman for saying she was sexually harassed seems pretty backward. In addition, consider this was 1950’s rural Mississippi. The power imbalances between husbands and wives would have been huge. Any man capable of such horrific violence to a 14 year old child, would more than likely have been a domestic abuser as well. I really doubt that she had a lot of options for going against her husband.
- xphilter 4y ago
  Uh the warrant was for her role in kidnapping. It’s a bit misogynistic to think a woman couldn’t play a part in a lynching, I’d say. Glad you’re coming up for excuses for some lady you’ve never met before; keeping the system that kept her out of prison alive and well!
- richm31415 4y ago
  > . . . going against her husband. or father - https://youtu.be/_6qQ7l8pRGo https://youtu.be/_6qQ7l8pRGo
- spacemanmatt 4y ago
  She's a Good White Woman who participated in a kidnapping which ended in a gruesome murder. Don't make excuses for that.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- cultofmetatron 4y ago
shrubble 4y ago
The problem with the 'third person in the truck' theory being the woman, is that Milam's brother Leslie also admitted before he died that he was involved in the murder, so you would need to rule out his presence first. Weird fact: Till's father was executed for rape in 1945, while a USA army soldier in Italy. However it was not until after Emmett's death that the details of the father's death was known, even by his wife. I believe there was some attempt to retcon this fact into Emmett's behavior; however no-one knew the facts of his execution, outside the army bureaucracy, until well after Emmett's death.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

49 points by ohjeez 4y ago

I'm genuinely curious about this. I skimmed the article and didn't see mention of this, but does the statute of limitations apply here?

cryptonector 4y ago
Generally there's no statute of limitations on murder.
- voisin 4y ago
  This isn’t murder though. It would be perjury or something along those lines.
  - Dracophoenix 4y ago
    According to the article, the warrant says kidnapping, a crime for which there is no statute of limitations. However, the district attorney for the case would have to show probable cause to enforce the arrest warrant. There's little chance of establishing that absent rediscovery of evidence or the existence of new witnesses from a crime that occurred nearly 70 years ago. There's also the issue of their being only one living witness relevant to the ordeal. And she is unlikely to say anything even if she were to possess a steel trap of a memory.
  - cryptonector 4y ago
    Emmett Till was murdered.
    - voisin 4y ago
      Yes I understand, but the perpetrators were acquitted. So how could the woman be found guilty?
cmpb 4y ago
From the article: >Arrest warrants can “go stale” due to the passage of time and changing circumstances, and one from 1955 almost certainly wouldn’t pass muster before a court, even if a sheriff agreed to serve it, said Ronald J. Rychlak, a law professor at the University of Mississippi. >But combined with any new evidence, the original arrest warrant “absolutely” could be an important stepping stone toward establishing probable cause for a new prosecution, he said.
- yieldcrv 4y ago
  yes, this needs to be done. I don't understand what the new evidence is though, I skimmed the further linked article

dredmorbius 4y ago

Among the reasons the Emmett Till case gained such prominence was that Mamie Till Mobley, Till's mother, insisted that he have an open-casket funeral, and Jet magazine ran a photo of his corpse on the cover. If you've seen a photo of Till, it's probably of a sharp-dressed youth in a coat and hat, as featured in this AP piece. That's not what was returned to Tills' family. The question of whether or not to show the harms of unlimited violence are rising again with the proliferation of mass shootings in the US, war in Ukraine and elsewhere, and other forms of violence. The Bill Moyers link below does show the funeral photo. CW: mutilated corpse. https://billmoyers.com/content/key-moments-in-the-fight-for-civil-rights/2/ https://billmoyers.com/content/key-moments-in-the-fight-for-... The story of Tills's funeral is covered by Smithsonian Magazine here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/emmett-tills-open-casket-funeral-reignited-the-civil-rights-movement-180956483/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/emmet...

RcouF1uZ4gsC 4y ago

> Donham set off the case in August 1955 by accusing the 14-year-old Till of making improper advances at a family store in Money, Mississippi. This is so misogynistic. The responsibility for kidnapping and murder falls squarely on the men who did it. Blaming a woman for saying she was sexually harassed seems pretty backward. In addition, consider this was 1950’s rural Mississippi. The power imbalances between husbands and wives would have been huge. Any man capable of such horrific violence to a 14 year old child, would more than likely have been a domestic abuser as well. I really doubt that she had a lot of options for going against her husband.

xphilter 4y ago
Uh the warrant was for her role in kidnapping. It’s a bit misogynistic to think a woman couldn’t play a part in a lynching, I’d say. Glad you’re coming up for excuses for some lady you’ve never met before; keeping the system that kept her out of prison alive and well!
richm31415 4y ago
> . . . going against her husband. or father - https://youtu.be/_6qQ7l8pRGo https://youtu.be/_6qQ7l8pRGo
spacemanmatt 4y ago
She's a Good White Woman who participated in a kidnapping which ended in a gruesome murder. Don't make excuses for that.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
cultofmetatron 4y ago

shrubble 4y ago

The problem with the 'third person in the truck' theory being the woman, is that Milam's brother Leslie also admitted before he died that he was involved in the murder, so you would need to rule out his presence first. Weird fact: Till's father was executed for rape in 1945, while a USA army soldier in Italy. However it was not until after Emmett's death that the details of the father's death was known, even by his wife. I believe there was some attempt to retcon this fact into Emmett's behavior; however no-one knew the facts of his execution, outside the army bureaucracy, until well after Emmett's death.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]