Though the Ku Klux Klan is an obvious villain to society today, that wasn't always the case. On Tuesday, lawyer and MU grad James P. Turner, provided a packed room with an overview of how the historic 1965 trials of Collie Leroy Wilkins in the murder of Viola Liuzzo led to the groundbreaking first KKK conviction.  That conviction sparked a wave of Klansmen trials across the country, showing that the KKK would no longer be above the law in the South.

As the Deputy Assistant Attorney General, the senior lawyer in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, Turner followed the case from start to finish. He covered the full breadth of the three trials in his recent book, "Selma and the Liuzzo Murder Trials." 

Here are four factors that Turner says resulted in an eventual conviction:

1. Frank Johnson's court order

Johnson originally issued court papers that ordered Alabama to allow the Selma to Montgomery March to take place, receiving support from President Lyndon B. Johnson, who authorized that protection be provided by the state national guard.

Viola Liuzzo came to Selma to support the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with its efforts to register African-American voters and aid in transporting marchers. On the evening of March 26, 1965, Liuzzo was shot by a car full of Ku Klux Klansmen while giving a ride to Leroy Moton, one of many civil rights marchers she had driven around Selma.  Johnson, a hero of the civil rights movement who had come down with multiple precedent-setting rulings already, refused to let this case fall by the wayside.

2. John Doar's leadership of the Civil Rights Division

As Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Doar relentlessly pursued justice in the South during reconstruction, a time which Turner called one of the darkest in the nation's history. He approached his work practically and passionately.

"He had an evolving concept on how this nation should function; it should be like a big law firm," Turner says. "The most senior partners are always given the toughest cases to handle. The tougher your case, the more money the department should pay the partner to handle it."

3. John Doar taking on the Liuzzo case

When the Liuzzo case came around, Doar took it on. He hired research analysts to concisely brief the team on testimony, prepare witness folders, and generally make sure that they were as informed as they could possibly be about every aspect.

4. Frank Johnson's refusal to let jurors off easy

When the jurors came back after the first day of discussions, saying that they were deadlocked, Turner says that Johnson replied with, "You've only negotiated for one day, you haven't hardly begun!"