By Associated Press
Marion, AL – A Perry County grand jury returned an indictment Wednesday after meeting behind closed doors for two-hours to review the 1965 shooting death of a black man by a state trooper during a melee at a civil rights demonstration.
District Attorney Michael Jackson, who announced the indictment, said the charge and the person indicted will not be made public until it is served.
But retired state trooper James Bonard Fowler was the target of the grand jury investigation and had said he expected to be indicted in the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Jimmie Lee Jackson. The killing of Jackson inspired the historic "Bloody Sunday" protest at Selma.
Fowler maintains he shot Jackson in self-defense in a struggle over his gun while he and other troopers were being struck with bottles. He said he was not asked to appear before the grand jury.
Jackson's daughter, Cordelia Herd Billingsley of Marion, who was four-years-old when her father was killed, said the case had been "swept under the rug" for decades. She said she wanted closure.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)