Day 10: A Final Dagger

by Matt Saldańa
June 12, 2007

Prosecutors in the James Ford Seale federal kidnapping and conspiracy trial rested their case Tuesday, with a final dagger coming from retired FBI Agent Edward Putz. The last government witness, Putz testified about Seale’s infamous statement following his arrest by Mississippi highway patrolmen in Nov. 1964:

“We know you did it, you know you did it, the Lord above knows you did it,” FBI Agent Lenard Wolf told Seale, referring to the kidnapping and murder of Moore and Dee.

“Yes, but I’m not going to admit it; you are going to have to prove it,” Seale said.

During pretrial motion hearings in late April and early May, Seale’s defense fought to keep this statement out of the trial, arguing that Seale was coerced into saying it. However, U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate sided with the prosecution, who noted that Miranda rights did not yet exist in 1964 and that Seale never asked for a lawyer.

“The very defiance of (Seale’s) reply is evidence of its voluntary nature. He’s basically telling (the agents) to go pound sand,” attorney Eric Gibson argued for the prosecution in April.

Wingate was also not satisfied by allegations of physical abuse made by Seale’s friend, Jack Davis, who testified that he had seen “two or three ribs (of Seale’s) … that were pretty red.”

District Attorney Lenox Forman used that same argument as a rationale to drop charges against Seale and co-defendant Charles Marcus Edwards in 1965, arguing that a grand jury would not indict the men because of stories of abuse by law enforcement.

“(Seale) was never struck in my presence,” Putz restated Tuesday.

When asked on Tuesday what he thought of Seale’s statement, Putz replied: “It’s an admission.”

The defense—who until Tuesday had not confirmed with certainty that they would put on a case—told Wingate that they would begin direct examination Wednesday with Don Seale, James Ford Seale’s brother.

The judge will decide tomorrow whether he will allow allegations James Ford Seale made against Mississippi Highway Patrolman Ford O’Neal of mistreatment, five months after O’Neal participated in his 1964 arrest, into the testimony of Don Seale. Franklin County Sheriff Wayne Hutto, whom the prosecution identifies as a co-conspirator in the kidnapping of Dee and Moore for his role in searching the Roxie First Baptist Church for guns on May 2, 1964, issued an affidavit for O’Neal’s arrest following Seale’s accusation, but it was never served.

In their response to the defense’s original failed motion to suppress Seale’s statement following his arrest, the prosecution described Seale’s accusation against O’Neal as “patently self-serving, utterly uncorroborated and entirely unreliable.”

Seale’s defense is seeking to admit this affidavit under the “ancient document” hearsay exception, since it is over 20 years old. Wingate at first flatly rejected the motion, then decided to review his “ancient document jurisprudence” and rule on the matter tomorrow at 9 a.m. The defense is scheduled to begin their case at 9:30 a.m.

posted by AGamm627 on 06/12/07 at 10:26 PM

posted by mossman on 06/13/07 at 02:14 PM