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Monday, July 25, 2011

MALCOLM X MURDER WON'T BE REOPENED: JUSTICE DEPT

MALCOLM
MURDER SCENE
MALCOLM X's murder case will not be reinvestigated Justice Department officials have revealed. 
Civil rights advocates had called for the case to be reopened despite three men being found guilty shortly after his 1965 slaying. 
Nation of Islam members, Talmadge Hayer, Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson were found guilty of charging the stage or Manhattan's Audobon Ballroom and blasting the civil rights icon 16 times with a sawn off shotgun an handguns. 
But as The NY Times reported, new information has emerged, which suggests a fourth man who lives in Newark under a different name, fired the fatal shot.
Despite the compelling new evidence, the Justice Department are refusing to reinvestigate saying that the statute of limitations has expired on any federal laws that might apply, like the National Firearms Act of 1934, according to a statement released Saturday. 
Several experts, including prominent advocate for civil rights era cold cases, Alan Sykes,  had argued that they could take up the case under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007.
But the department, without elaborating, said the crime did not fit the parameters of that act.
They said in a statement: "Although the Justice Department recognizes that the murder of Malcolm X was a tragedy, both for his family and for the community he served, we have determined that at this time, the matter does not implicate federal interests sufficient to necessitate the use of scarce federal investigative resources into a matter for which there can be no federal criminal prosecution."
Mr. Sykes said he planned to appeal to President Obama, Congress and local law enforcement agencies to pursue the case.

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