White Youths Who Torched Black Churches Get Prison

JACKSON, Miss. —  Three white teen-agers who shouted racial epithets as they torched two black churches were sentenced Friday to federal prison and ordered to write 10-page reports on the history of the civil rights movement.

U.S. District Judge Tom S. Lee also ordered the three to pay restitution totaling $138,000 for burning Springhill Freewill Baptist Church in Amite County and Rocky Point Missionary Baptist Church near Summit on April 4, the anniversary of the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Charles McGeehee Jr., 18, and Jerome Bellelo, 17, were each sentenced to three years in prison. Roy J. McGovern, 18, was sentenced to nearly four years.

All three pleaded guilty Oct. 1 to conspiracy to violate the civil rights of the churches’ members.

During the sentencing attended by church congregants, McGovern and McGeehee turned to face the crowd and apologize.

“We’re not satisfied,” the Rev. Frank L. Lee said after the sentencing. “These people got nothing. I don’t think they’re sorry. I think they’re just racists.”