◆ SpookStack

eof ta ee oy ke Do Re ge ey . a? a Fa Ee a a De ne LE ce a al . JN 44-1 ‘not to be deprived of life or liberty without due process of law by persons acting under color of the laws of Mississippi.’ The third paragraph of the indictment states that it was the plan and purpose of such conspiracy tbat said victims would be released by said officials from the county jail and that the individual defendants would intercept said released prisoners ‘and threaten, assault, sheot and kill them." This entire offense is said to have been committed in Neshoba County, State of Mississippi, in viclation of said $241. "This statute was designed and intended solely for the protecticn of federally created rights, not for ary right merely guaranteed by the laws of the United States. This is not a statute which makes murder a federal crime urder the facts and circumstances in this case, The right of every person not to be deprived of his life or liberty without due process of law is a right that existed prior tothe Federal Constitution. It is a right which is protected by state laws and is merely guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. "In United States v. Cruikshank, 92 US 588, there was an indictment under S6 of the Enforcement Act of May 31, 1870, appearing as 16 Statute At Large 141, which is similar in many respects to §241 here. The Court said; ‘The third and eleventh counts are even more objectionable. They charge the intent to have been to deprive the citizens named, they being in Louisiana, “of their respective several lives and liberty of person without due process of law.". This is nothing else than alleging a comsppiracy to falsely imprison or murder citizens of the United States, being within the territorial jurisdiction of the State of Louisiana. The rights of life ard personal liberty are natural rights of man. “To secure these rights," says the Declaration of Independence, “governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." The very highest duty of the States, when they entered into the Union under the Constitution, was to protect all persons within their ’ boundaries in the enjoyment of these "unalienable rights ae with which they were endowed by their Creator." Sover- . eierty, fer this purpose, rests alone with the States. it - 20 - | 5G - ae a ek eee ee fon dR at