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Case

Dan Carter Sanders

Overview

     On November 18, 1946, Dan Carter Sanders, a 26-year-old African-American World War II veteran and married XXXXX, was shot and killed after a group of white men suspected him and another man of stealing animals from a local white man’s farm.

     As explained more fully below, a federal prosecution of anyone responsible for Sanders’s death is not possible.  All identifiable subjects involved in Sanders’s death are deceased, and the investigation did not identify any additional participants or witnesses to the attack.  Even if additional participants or witnesses were identified at this time, the statute of limitations has run on all potential federal hate crimes and there is no other potential basis for federal jurisdiction.  The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act[1] (Till Act) and its Reauthorization[2] authorize federal authorities to assist state and local jurisdictions in prosecuting cold cases.  However, the fact that all identified subjects are now deceased would likely bar any state prosecution.  Given the lack of any leads about other participants and the passage of more than 70 years from Sanders’s death, it is unlikely that any additional living subjects could be identified or, if identified, could be successfully prosecuted on state charges.  For these reasons, the case is being closed without prosecution or referral to the state.


 

[1] Pub. L. No. 110-344, 122 Stat. 3934 (2008).

[2] Pub. L. No. 114-325, 130 Stat. 1965 (2016).

 


Incident Date
Case Name
Dan Carter Sanders
Topics
FOIA
Industry Code(s)
  • None
Updated September 23, 2019