provided funds through the Mississippi Religious Leadership Council for anyone with information leading to an arrest. On January 6, 2005, Hood and Duncan convened a local grand jury, which indicted Edgar Ray Killen for the murders. In 2004, Killen said he would attend a petition-drive on his behalf, conducted by the Nationalist Movement at the 2004 Mississippi Annual State Fair in Jackson. The Nationalist Movement is a white supremacy organization. Hinds County sheriff Malcolm McMillin conducted a counter-petition calling for a reopening of the state case against Killen. Killen was arrested for three counts of murder on January 6, 2005. He was freed on bond. Killen's trial was scheduled for April 18, 2005. It was deferred after the 80-year-old Killen broke both legs while chopping lumber. The trial began on June 13, 2005, with Killen attending in a wheelchair. He was found guilty of manslaughter on June 21, 2005, 41 years to the day after the crime. The jury of nine white jurors and three black jurors rejected the murder charges but found him guilty of manslaughter for recruiting the mob that carried out the killings. He was sentenced on June 23, 2005, by Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon to the maximum sentence of 60 years in prison, 20 years for each count of manslaughter, to be served consecutively. He would have been eligible for parole after 20 years. In his sentencing remarks Gordon said that each life lost was valuable, that the law made no distinction of age for the crime, and that the maximum sentence should be imposed regardless of Killen's age. Prosecuting the case were Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood and Neshoba County District Attorney Mark Duncan. Incarceration and death Killen entered the Mississippi Department of Corrections system on June 27, 2005, to serve his sixty-year sentence. On August 12 he was released on a $600,000 appeal bond, having claimed he could not use his right hand (using his left hand to place his right hand on the Bible during swearing-in) and that he was permanently confined to his wheelchair. Judge Gordon said he was convinced Killen was neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community. On September 3, The Clarion-Ledger reported that a deputy sheriff saw Killen walking around "with no problem". At a hearing on September 9, several other deputies testified to seeing Killen driving in various locations. One deputy said Killen shook hands