Trooper charged with murder 42 years later

MARION, Ala., May 11 (UPI) -- A former Alabama state trooper has been charged with murder, 42 years after shooting a man to death after a civil rights march in Marion, Ala.

James Fowler, 73, turned himself in Thursday and was released on a $250,000 bond, the Birmingham (Ala.) News reported.

Fowler has been charged with first- and second-degree murder in the 1965 death of Jimmie Lee Jackson. District Attorney Michael Jackson said the two murder charges will give jurors the opportunity to decide whether the shooting was premeditated if they convict Fowler.

Fowler has said he shot Jackson in self defense.

"Under no circumstances could it be intentional murder or murder. The shooting was justified and the evidence will show that," Fowler's lawyer, George Beck, told the News.

The newspaper said that Jackson's death made him a hero of the civil rights movement and helped trigger the Selma-to-Montgomery march and passage of the federal Voting Rights Act.