Former Ala. trooper faces trial in fatal '65 shooting

July 11, 2008|Phillip Rawls, Associated Press

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A former Alabama state trooper is scheduled to go on trial in October for a slaying that occurred on darkened streets during a historic civil rights demonstration in Marion in 1965.

Circuit Judge Tommy Jones declined to dismiss an indictment against James Bonard Fowler, and scheduled his trial for the week of Oct. 20.

"We look forward to having this matter resolved after 43 years," District Attorney Michael Jackson said yesterday.

A Perry County grand jury indicted Fowler on May 9, 2007, on first- and second-degree murder charges involving the shooting death of Jimmie Lee Jackson. Fowler's lawyer, George Beck, had asked the judge to dismiss the charges because of the passage of time and the death of defense witnesses, but the judge declined.

Jimmie Lee Jackson, a 26-year-old black man, was shot by the white trooper during a civil rights protest in the west Alabama town on Feb. 18, 1965. Jimmie Lee Jackson died eight days later at a Selma hospital.

The shooting happened after street lights went out during a nighttime civil rights march and violence erupted. Civil rights museums in Alabama say Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot trying to stop state troopers from beating his grandfather and mother. Fowler maintains he shot in self-defense after Jimmie Lee Jackson hit him with a bottle and tried to grab his gun.