Seven Klansmen , including a deputy sheriff , were convicted in the federal courthouse in Meridian of " depriving the victims of their civil rights " and three were acquitted in the Mississippi civil rights workers murders trial . It was the first time that a white jury had convicted " a white official in a civil rights killing . " In 2005 , the case was reopened by the state , which brought charges in the case for the first time . Edgar Ray Killen was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 60 years in prison . Meridian later honored Chaney by renaming a portion of 49th Avenue after him and holding an annual memorial service .