Sessions’ diligent work on the tragic murder of Michael Donald would help pave the way for a multimillion dollar judgment that bankrupted the KKK
January 10, 2017
FACT: Jeff Sessions’ Aggressive Prosecution Bankrupted The KKK
In all the debates about Sen. Jeff Sessions record as U.S. attorney one fact often goes unnoticed: his work bankrupting the KKK.
While Sessions was U.S. Attorney, Henry Francis Hays, a member of the KKK and son of Klan leader Bennie Jack Hays, killed Michael Donald, a black teenager. In the heinous crime, Donald’s “throat was slashed and his body was hanged from a tree.” Bennie Jack Hays ordered the murder to showcase the Klan’s strength in Alabama.
Henry Francis Hays was successfully prosecuted for the murder and received the death penalty, thanks to Sessions’ insistence the death penalty be applied due to the heinous nature of the crime and when Sessions became state’s Attorney General, he ensured Hays’ death sentence was carried out.
Sessions diligent work on the Hays case helped pave the way for a $7 million civil judgment against the KKK, leading to a bankruptcy that crippled the Klan.