Bank of the Sunflower River, Mississippi
In 1970, Rainey Pool, 54, a one-armed sharecropper from Midnight, Mississippi, was beaten by a group of white men and dumped in the Sunflower River. Police found Pool’s body two days later.
Four men were arrested and charged with assault and murder, one of whom confessed.
The charges were dropped after the state court granted a nolle prosequi, a legal declaration in which the prosecutor declares that charges against the defendant will be dropped.
In 1999, at the behest of the Pool family, the case was reopened.
Joe Oliver Watson pled to manslaughter and testified against the other men involved in Pool’s murder. James “Doc” Caston, 66, his brother Charles Ernie Caston, 64, and his half-brother Hal Spivey Crimm, 50, were convicted of manslaughter by a state jury and sentenced to serve 20 years in prison. Dennis Newton was acquitted.
Four men were arrested and charged with assault and murder, one of whom confessed.
The charges were dropped after the state court granted a nolle prosequi, a legal declaration in which the prosecutor declares that charges against the defendant will be dropped.
In 1999, at the behest of the Pool family, the case was reopened.
Joe Oliver Watson pled to manslaughter and testified against the other men involved in Pool’s murder. James “Doc” Caston, 66, his brother Charles Ernie Caston, 64, and his half-brother Hal Spivey Crimm, 50, were convicted of manslaughter by a state jury and sentenced to serve 20 years in prison. Dennis Newton was acquitted.
