Throughout his trial, James Ford Seale appeared in court wearing slacks and a dress shirt. This morning, as he walked in shackles into a U.S. District Court in Jackson, he wore an orange Madison County-issued jumpsuit. In the courtroom, neither his siblings nor his children were present. He smiled at his wife, as guards escorted him to his seat next to public defenders Kathy Nester and George Lucas.
The courtroom looked familiar; almost all of those in the gallery had attended Seale's trial in June. Many were family members of slain teens Charles Moore and Henry Dee, including Thomas Moore, Charles Moore's brother.
"On June 14, 2007, the day you were convicted, I started the healing process and moving on with my life," Thomas Moore said. "In a few hours I will walk away from here leaving the chains of pain, guilt, hate and shame that have hung over me the past 43 years."
Seale was convicted on June 14, 2007, of two counts of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy in the abduction and murder of Moore and Dee. Judge Henry Wingate called it a ghastly crime.
"Only a monster could inflict (this crime) upon these poor youths," Wingate said to a crowded courtroom.
Following statements from family members of the victims, during which Seale stared fixedly at the wall in front of him, Wingate sentenced Seale to three life terms, one for each count. Seale declined to comment to the court on his behalf, but Nester said that he maintains his innocence and plans to appeal the ruling.
Nester requested that the court recommend that Seale spend his term in a medical facility, a request to which Wingate agreed. Seale suffers from kidney cancer, among other medical problems.
Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Wan J. Kim said that today was a "great day for Mississippi and a great day for the country," adding that there are more than 100 cold cases under review, and that the Department of Justice favors legislation to fund cold-case units.
Henry Dee's sister, Thelma Collins, and Moore said in separate addresses to the court that they did not hate Seale, but that they were glad that justice had finally been done.
Although it has taken 43 years for Seale to be tried and sentenced, Judge Henry Wingate said that "justice is ageless." He emphasized that he considered several factors in making his decision, but that retribution was not one of them.
"I hope you spend the rest of your natural life in prison thinking of what you did to Charles Moore and Henry Dee and how you ran for a long time, but you finally got caught," Moore said.
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