Supreme Court will not hear "Mississippi Burning" mastermind's appeal

The U. S. Supreme Court decided this week it would not hear the appeal of convicted "Mississippi Burning" mastermind Edgar Ray Killen.

Killen, 88, is serving a 60-year sentence for his part in the 1964 murders of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney:

In his appeal, Killen declared that he deserved a new trial because his constitutional rights were violated.On Monday, his attorney, Rob Ratliff of Mobile, Ala., vowed to keep fighting, saying the "legal options are not over. Several other options exist in the course of having proper judicial review of a conviction and sentencing that failed to meet our respected standards."Justices were not asked to rule on substantive issues, but to recognize Killen's constitutional right to due process, Ratliff wrote in an email.