Nov. trial set in ex-trooper’s murder case for 1965 killing of black man at Alabama protest

Trial set in 1965 Ala. civil rights death case

MARION, Ala. — A judge has set a Nov. 29 trial date for a former Alabama state trooper charged with murder in a 1960s shooting that helped galvanize the civil rights movement.

Alabama Circuit Judge Tommy Jones also refused to step down from the case against 76-year-old James Bonard Fowler, a decision the district attorney said he would appeal.

That could cause an additional delay in the case against Fowler, who was indicted more than three years ago in the 1965 death of Jimmie Lee Jackson during a civil rights march in Marion, Ala.

Fowler, who is white, contends he fired in self-defense when Jackson, who was black, attacked him. Jackson’s death prompted the civil rights march in Selma that became known as “Bloody Sunday” when it was turned back by club-swinging troopers.