JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
The former cellmate of Mississippi Ku Klux Klansman Edgar Ray Killen is speaking out about his nearly year and a half time with the man at the center of civil rights contention.
James Stern, a black man who was convicted of fraud charges, says Killen deeded over 40 acres of land in Neshoba County, which belonged to him. Stern says he then gave that land to a non-profit group he founded called Racial Reconciliation.
In 2005, Killen was convicted of manslaughter in the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers and sentenced to 60 years. As his cellmate at Parchman, Stern says Killen confessed to 32 additional murders which he was directly responsible for.
Stern says he even has book and movie rights signed over by Killen and his wife Betty Jo, as well as taped conversations with her. Stern says with the interest in the case, he wanted to get answers to lingering questions.
"When I eventually realized there was a possible chance of finding this information out, I then pursued it. Calculatingly, yes. Meticulously, yes. But nevertheless, I pursued to get this information out of Edgar because somebody had to find out," said Stern.
Stern says all of the documentation, including letters, won't be released until it's presented in his upcoming book. He says he has no financial agreements with the Killen's when it comes to anticipated profits.
Killen's lawyer, Robert Ratliff, says his client denies signing over anything to Stern.
Ratliff says he'll defend Killen's property rights because he's 87, has a brain injury and people try to exploit him or profit from being associated with him.
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