In '' United States v. Price '' ( 1965 ) , eighteen Ku Klux Klan members were charged with murder and conspiracy for the deaths of James Chaney , Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner , but the charges were dismissed by the trial court . A unanimous Supreme Court , which included Black , reversed the dismissal and ordered the case to proceed to trial . Seven of these men , including fellow Klansmen Samuel Bowers , Cecil Price and Alton Wayne Roberts were found guilty of the crime ; eight of them , including Lawrence A. Rainey , were found not guilty ; and three of them , including Edgar Ray Killen , had their cases end in a mistrial
deaths
Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner
Hugo Black