In broad daylight, Thomas Coleman, a member of an elite white family in Lowndes, attacked a group of activists, shooting and killing Jonathan Daniels and critically injuring Richard Morrisroe, both white activists. Coleman was quickly acquitted by an all-white jury that accepted his claim of self-defense. The fact that the activists were released from jail suddenly, for no apparent reason, suggests that Coleman was acting as part of a wider conspiracy. This is just the most dramatic of the many ways the white elite used violence and misused the legal system in an effort to sustain their authority and advantages.