Killen Jury Deadlocked; Search for Natalee Holloway
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Good evening, everyone. Breaking news out of Mississippi. The jury in the KKK trial tells the judge they're deadlocked. 360 starts right now.</s>COOPER (voice-over): Searching for Natalee. Why is it taking so long? Tonight, the latest on the missing American teen and the fourth suspect in custody. Who is he and what role did he allegedly play in Natalee's last night? The CIA's top spy says he has an excellent idea where Osama bin Laden is. But if that's true, why hasn't the U.S. grabbed him? Hidden germs in your office. It's "Enough to Make You Sick". Your keyboard, your phone, even your desk are a breeding ground for bacteria. Tonight, why your office may be dirtier than a bathroom toilet, and what you can do to clean it up.</s>ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.</s>COOPER: Good evening. We begin with breaking news out of Mississippi this hour, where a jury has deadlocked in the trial of a former Ku Klux Klan member, Edgar Ray Killen. He's accused of ordering and planning and organizing the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers. Now, just a short time ago, the jury deliberating the 41- year-old case told the judge they were deadlocked and they've only been deliberating for about an hour. CNN's Ed Lavandera is live outside the courthouse in Philadelphia, Mississippi, with the latest. Ed, what's going on? They deliberate an hour and they say that's it?</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually, they've gone a little bit longer than that, about three hours this afternoon. The judge asked them, brought them into the courtroom and asked them where they stood and the forewoman told the judge that they were deadlocked at six, six not guilty, six guilty. The judge has sent them home for the evening and they will be brought back tomorrow to continue deliberations. Anderson, it's been interesting throughout the course of this trial, there haven't been many people around here in Philadelphia showing up for the case. But it's a story that has long roots and they were lining up today to get a taste of what has been going on here for the last week.</s>LAVANDERA (voice-over): It's a chapter of the civil rights struggle that remains incomplete and still haunts Philadelphia, Mississippi. It was the 1964 Summer of Freedom. Idealistic young people from around the country had come to the South to register black voters. At the center of command among those Freedom Riders, as they were called, were three young men: two white, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and one black, James Chaney. It was June 21. The three men were heading down the Mississippi back roads to investigate a recently torched church. The FBI says after beating several church members, Ku Klux Klan members set fire to the church, leaving it a charred ruin. But before they reached the church, the group was pulled off the road by local police. Arrested for speeding, they were tossed into the Neshoba County Jail. Prosecutors say while the three sat in jail, a gang of about 20 Klan members put a plan in motion to kill them. Accused of leading the effort, part-time Baptist preacher Edgar Ray Killen. Some hours later, the three young civil rights workers were released from jail and drove away in their station wagon. Right behind them were two carloads of Klan members. After a long chase, the mob forced them off the road. Taken from the cars, the three were killed, shot dead at close range: Schwerner, then Goodman, then Chaney. A bulldozer was brought in to bury them. The bodies disappeared. The state of Mississippi never charged any of the culprits with murder. There was no federal murder charge then, so instead, the men were brought up on civil rights violations with only seven serving minimal prison sentences. The man considered to be one of the key instigators, Edgar Ray Killen, walked free, an 11-1 hung jury verdict. Although the jury was all white, there was only one holdout who said at the time she could never convict a preacher. Killen left the courtroom that day a free man, but for more than 30 years groups of civil rights activists, politicians and journalists refused to accept that ruling as the last word. Killen's murder case is the latest in a series of civil rights cases that have been rekindled, looking to right the wrongs of the past.</s>LAVANDERA: Now, defense attorneys for Edgar Ray Killen left the courthouse just a little while ago. They seemed rather upbeat about the 6-6 deadlock at this point and are looking forward to, as all sides are, the jury returning back here to the courthouse tomorrow morning to continue their deliberations. Anderson.</s>COOPER: All right. Deliberations continue tomorrow. Thanks very much, Ed. We want to talk to Jeffrey Toobin in just a moment, but I wanted to put up a picture of these three young men who were brutally murdered. Forty years ago to the day, tomorrow, is when they were killed, and I don't know if you were listening to Ed Lavandera's piece -- I hope you were -- they were pushed off the side of the road by two cars filled with KKK members. They were shot at close range, and they were dumped in a pit that had already been dug and a bulldozer was brought in, in the dead of night. And these guys were just buried. The people who did this wanted these three young men to be forgotten. They wanted what their movement stood for to be forgotten. It hasn't been. This case has been something that people down in that area have never forgotten, nor people around the world. No one has ever been held accountable for murder for these three young men. That is the case that is being discussed right now. On the phone, Jeffrey Toobin. Jeffrey, does it surprise you that, after some three hours of deliberations, they are already saying they are deadlocked?</s>JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: It sure does, Anderson. This is a very short time to declare a deadlock, and the judge clearly did the right thing in saying, you have a lot more work to do. Get back to work and try and reach some sort of verdict.</s>COOPER: How can it be that 40 years later, no one has ever been held accountable for these murders? I mean, the guys who actually did it were brought up on civil rights charges and served minimal time.</s>TOOBIN: Well, this is really a story of Mississippi in the '60s. In the '60s, the legal structure of Mississippi was on the side, frankly, of the killers, not on the side of the victims. It was impossible for any district attorney or attorney general in Mississippi to -- it was politically impossible, and they were simply unwilling to prosecute them for this crime. So, the federal government stepped in, but the federal government didn't have the jurisdiction to prosecute for murder. All they could do was conspiracy. Murder is a state crime, not a federal crime, so the federal government did what it could, and it's only now, decades later, that the state of Mississippi, a profoundly changed place, has decided that it's time to bring a murder case.</s>COOPER: And we should point out, Mississippi is a profoundly changed place. I want to show a picture of this man, Killen. The federal court, which you talked about, which -- where he was put on trial, 11-1 they were voting to convict him. One holdout, a woman who said she couldn't convict someone who had been a preacher.</s>TOOBIN: You know, it was a different time, Anderson. This was, you know -- it's inconceivable to consider it now, but public opinion was not on Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney's side in Mississippi in those days. Public opinion was very much against them and the jury pool is the, you know, legal manifestation of public opinion and 11-1, frankly, was a surprise to some people, for conviction. It was a very different time.</s>COOPER: Very different, indeed. Again, the jury gets back tomorrow. The judge sent them back to continue deliberations. We'll continue to follow the story. Jeffrey Toobin, thanks very much. On the island of Aruba, there are four suspects in custody, still no sign of Natalee Holloway. We're going to talk to her mom in a moment, but CNN's Karl Penhaul has been tracking the investigation all weekend. There've been a lot of developments as the father of one suspect has repeatedly been called in for questioning. Let's get the latest from Karl in Aruba.</s>KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Suspect Steve Croes covers his face with cuffed hands as police bring him to court. On a judge's orders, he'll be kept in jail for the time being while prosecutors investigate his links, if any, with Natalee Holloway's disappearance. His ex-wife Janet Croes waits with their 3-year-old son, little Steve. She's anxious but convinced he's innocent.</s>JANET CROES, WIFE OF SUSPECT (through translator): He's a charming person, a very good father and very hard working. I'm 100 percent sure he's not involved in this case.</s>PENHAUL: Croes was arrested Friday. He's the DJ on this party boat. His boss says he's an able seaman, too, but declined to tell CNN whether the vessel was at sea the night Natalee vanished. Investigators will not detail how they think Croes may be tied to three other suspects in this case. The chief prosecutor, Caren Janssen, was keeping mum as she left the court.</s>CAREN JANSSEN, CHIEF PROSECUTOR: I'm sorry. I can't tell you.</s>PENHAUL: Seventeen-year-old Joran Van Der Sloot, Satish Kalpoe, 18, and his brother Deepak, 21, have not been charge with anything, but under Dutch law, the prosecutor has accused them of murder one, murder two and kidnapping leading to death, to hold them in jail. They were the last people known to have seen Natalee. There's still no conclusive evidence whether Natalee is alive or dead. Over the weekend, police questioned Paul Van Der Sloot, a judge and father of the suspect Joran Van Der Sloot. Police say they regard him as a possible witness, not a suspect. As he left the police station in downtown Oranjestad, Judge Van Der Sloot was in no mood to talk publicly about what he knows. But Natalee's stepfather, George Twitty, is demanding answers.</s>GEORGE TWITTY, NATALEE HOLLOWAY'S FATHER: I've met him. I met him the night I got here. I got here, you know, 12 hours after it happened, and the guy's -- he's sickening to me. He's a chicken. You can tell. Why's he running this morning on TV? If he has nothing to hide, why's he running to his car? He's -- he makes my stomach turn.</s>PENHAUL: It's three weeks since Natalee disappeared, and her parents say they will not leave Aruba until they find out what happened to their daughter.</s>PENHAUL: The question many people are asking is why, on an island just 19 miles long and six miles wide, is it taking so long to hunt down clues of Natalee, and why is it taking police so long to check out the stories of these three young men. Anderson.</s>COOPER: And Karl, I know a little bit later on in the program, you are actually going to sort of take us through a little bit of the search, kind of show -- try to answer some of those questions about why it is so hard to search on this island. We'll look forward to that report, Karl, a little bit later on 360. Also coming up, I'm going to talk with Natalee Holloway's mother -- she's in Aruba -- hear what she thinks of the investigation and how she's dealing with all of this. Can hardly even imagine how she's doing that. Also ahead tonight, did you hear that the director of the CIA said he has an excellent idea of where Osama bin Laden is? The question is, how come we haven't gotten him yet if they know where he is? We'll investigate ahead. Also, office germs. Ever wonder just what's lurking on your computer keyboard, or your telephone, maybe in the break room? Well, it is "Enough to Make You Sick". Our special series, you won't believe how many germs are in your office. All that ahead. But first, your picks, the most popular stories on CNN.com right now.