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The long awaited report into the 1955 killing of Emmett Till concludes no federal charges will be filed in the case, but District Attorney Joyce L. Chiles will make the decision on state charges, the FBI says. The FBI turned the report over to Chiles’ office on Thursday. Chiles, who was trying a case in Leflore County, was not immediately available for comment.

John G. Raucci, special agent in charge of the FBI in Mississippi, said it would be up to Chiles to decide if any local charges would be filed. There is no statute of limitations on murder in Mississippi.

Previous Comments

From the article: There is no statute of limitations on murder in Mississippi. I think the AP has it wrong. I have been told that there was a statute of limitations on murder in Mississippi until 1959 or so, and that under ex post facto, this means that there essentially still is a statute of limitations for pre-1959 murders. This, I was told, is why state charges were never seriously considered. Does anyone else remember hearing this? Certainly I’d rather see state charges pursued, but if they can’t be due to the statute of limitations, then the FBI’s offer seems a little strange. Cheers, TH

#131396 | Author: Tom Head | Date: Mar 17 2006

Founding Editor Donna Ladd is a writer, journalist and editor from Philadelphia, Miss., a graduate of Mississippi State University and later the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where she was an alumni award recipient in 2021. She writes about racism/whiteness, poverty, gender, violence, journalism and the criminal justice system. She contributes long-form features and essays to The Guardian when she has time, and was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Jackson Free Press. She co-founded the statewide nonprofit Mississippi Free Press with Kimberly Griffin in March 2020, and the Mississippi Business Journal named her one of the state's top CEOs in 2024. Read more at donnaladd.com, follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @donnerkay and email her at donna@mississippifreepress.org.