Jerry W. Mitchell

Jerry W. Mitchell is the Investigative Reporter for The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, MS, who convinced authorities to reopen seemingly cold murder cases from the Civil Rights Era. Mitchell's work so far has helped put at least four Klansmen behind bars: Byron De La Beckwith for the 1963 assassination of NAACP leader Medgar Evers, Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers for ordering the fatal firebombing of NAACP leader Vernon Dahmer in 1966, Bobby Cherry for the 1963 bombing of a Birmingham church that killed four girls and Edgar Ray Killen, for helping orchestrate the June 21, 1964, killings of Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman.