The murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson
Marion, Perry County, Alabama · 1965
Overview
Jimmie Lee Jackson, 26, a farmer, woodcutter and the youngest deacon in the history of St. James Baptist Church in Marion, Alabama, had tried several times to register to vote. On the night of February 18, 1965, he joined a march of more than 200 people protesting the jailing of a civil rights organizer. When Alabama state troopers broke up the march, Jackson went into Mack's Cafe with his mother and grandfather. Witnesses said he was trying to protect them when trooper James Bonard Fowler shot him in the stomach. Jackson died in a Selma hospital on February 26. His death led to the Selma-to-Montgomery marches and the Voting Rights Act. The shooter was never in doubt: Fowler said he fired in self-defense. But federal and state grand juries brought no charges, and nobody was prosecuted for more than 40 years. In an interview with the Anniston Star, Fowler publicly admitted firing the shot. In 2005 a new district attorney, Michael Jackson, reopened the case, and a Perry County grand jury indicted Fowler for murder on May 9, 2007. On November 15, 2010, two weeks before trial, Fowler pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and received six months in jail. He died in 2015.
How it was solved
This case was never a hunt for an unknown killer, and that is what makes it unusual. Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot at Mack's Cafe by state trooper James Bonard Fowler, and Fowler's own affidavit, which Democracy Now says was not made public, claimed he fired in self-defense. What took 42 years was a prosecution. The Associated Press reported that federal and state grand juries reviewed the shooting shortly after it happened and brought no charges. Democracy Now reported that Fowler was not named in the press then. The Encyclopedia of Alabama says he was never questioned by local, state or federal authorities until his arrest in 2007; other accounts describe a state grand jury in 1965, so the sources differ on what was done in those years, and this file does not resolve it. What changed was a reopened investigation. Fowler told a reporter for the Anniston Star that he pulled the trigger, which Democracy Now described as the first time Jackson's shooter was publicly identified; sources date the interview to 2004 or 2005. In 2005, Michael Jackson, no relation to the victim, became Perry County's first Black district attorney and reopened the investigation. A Perry County grand jury indicted Fowler on first- and second-degree murder charges on May 9, 2007, and he surrendered the next day. The sources do not describe new forensic evidence. Delays followed: in 2008 Circuit Judge Tommy Jones declined to dismiss the indictment, and the Associated Press blamed disagreements between the prosecutor and the judge for later delay. On November 15, 2010, two weeks before a murder trial, Fowler, 77, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor second-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to six months in jail. The Associated Press called it a mixed victory for civil rights era prosecutions.
Sources
- Jimmie Lee Jackson (August 3, 2015)
“Another trooper pulled his pistol and shot Jackson in the stomach. It was two hours before Jackson arrived at the hospital in Selma.”
- Jimmie Lee Jackson
“Fowler was never questioned by local, state, or federal authorities over the shooting until his arrest in 2007”
- Jackson, Jimmie Lee
“Many were enraged that no case was opened against James Bonard Fowler, the Alabama state trooper who shot Jackson.”
- 45 Years Later, Former Alabama State Trooper Pleads Guilty in Jimmie Lee Jackson Killing (November 17, 2010)
“It was the first time Jackson’s shooter was publicly identified.”
- 1965 civil rights killing case ends with guilty plea (November 15, 2010)
“Shortly after the shooting, federal and state grand juries conducted reviews and brought no charges.”
- Ala. ex-trooper pleads in civil rights-era slaying (November 15, 2010)
“The shooting resulted in no charges for more than 40 years”
- Who Mourns for Jimmie Lee Jackson?
“He tried to register to vote several times, and because of racial discrimination in the South, he was denied each time.”
- Indictment in 42-year-old shooting (May 9, 2007)
“A Perry County grand jury returned an indictment Wednesday after meeting behind closed doors for two-hours”
- Ex-state trooper surrenders in 1965 Ala. slaying (May 10, 2007)
“A former state trooper surrendered Thursday on a murder charge in the 1965 shooting death of a black man”
- Former Ala. trooper to face trial in '65 shooting (July 10, 2008)
“Michael Jackson reopened the investigation after he became Perry County's first black district attorney in 2005.”
- Justice for civil rights martyr
“As far as I'm concerned, he apologized to the judge, not to me and my family.”
- James Bonard Fowler
“Fowler died of pancreatic cancer on July 5, 2015, in Geneva County, Alabama, at the age of 81.”