Police won’t prosecute woman whose accusation triggered Emmett Till’s lynching
Rachel Lang
Featured Image Credit: Alamy.
A grand jury in Mississippi has ruled it will not indict Carolyn Bryant Donham over her involvement in the brutal death of Emmet Till in 1955.
District Attorney Dewayne Richardson confirmed that a grand jury had elected not to charge the 88-year-old over Till’s slaying nearly 70 years ago on the grounds of insufficient evidence.
"After hearing every aspect of the investigation and evidence collected regarding Donham's involvement, the Grand Jury returned a 'no bill' to the charges of both kidnapping and manslaughter," Richardson's statement said.
"The murder of Emmett Till remains an unforgettable tragedy in this country and the thoughts and prayers of this nation continue to be with the family of Emmett Till."
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Given Bryant Donham’s age, it is increasingly unlikely that the now-88 year old will ever be held to account for her role in Till’s death.
The news comes two months after Till's family demanded she be taken into custody after they discovered a warrant for her arrest, as well as the arrest for her then-husband, Roy Bryant, and brother-in-law, J.W. Milam.
Emmett was kidnapped and lynched in Mississippi in 1955 over accusations he whistled at Bryant Donham, as well as making verbal and physical advances while in her family’s grocery store in Money, Mississippi.
Her allegations against the boy led her then-husband and brother-in-law to abduct the teen at gunpoint.
The pair then tortured and killed the 14-year-old in what was one of the most barbaric lynchings in US history.
Till's brutalised and disfigured body was found days later in a river, where it had been anchored down with a heavy metal fan.
After Till's death his mother, Mamie Till Mobley, elected to have an open casket funeral to show the horrors that her son had endured.
Till's death and funeral is largely credited as being the spark that ignited the American Civil Rights Movement.
In September 1955, an all-white jury found Bryant and Milam not guilty of Till's murder.
More than six decades after his brutal slaying, a search team, which included members of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation and two of Till's relatives, scoured the basement of a Mississippi courthouse to find evidence about the case.
In June they discovered a warrant for Bryant Donham's arrest placed inside a file folder in a box.
The warrant dated August 29, 1955, was signed by the Leflore County clerk, but was never served.
Till's cousin Deborah Watts said that when they found the warrant, she and her daughter, 'cried and hugged each other.'
"Justice has to be done," she said, as per the Daily Mail.