Emmett Till murder: Grand jury declines to indict woman whose accusation incited Black teen's lynching

GREENWOOD, Miss. - A grand jury in Mississippi has declined to indict the white woman whose accusation set off the lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till nearly 70 years ago, despite revelations about an unserved arrest warrant and an unpublished memoir by the woman, a prosecutor said Tuesday.After hearing more than seven hours of testimony from investigators and witnesses, a Leflore County grand jury last week determined there was insufficient evidence to indict Carolyn Bryant Donham on charges of kidnapping and manslaughter.It is now increasingly unlikely that Donham, who is now in her 80s, will ever be prosecuted for her role in the events that led to Till’s lynching.The Rev.

Wheeler Parker, Jr., Emmett Till’s cousin and the last living witness to Till’s 1955 abduction, said Tuesday’s news is unfortunate, but predictable.After their acquittal in the Emmett Till trial, defendant Roy Bryant (right), smokes a cigar as his wife happily embraces him and his half brother, J.W.

Milam and his wife show jubilation. Bryant and Milam were cleared by an all white, male jury of t "The fact remains that the people who abducted, tortured, and murdered Emmett did so in plain sight, and our American justice system was and continues to be set up in such a way that they could not be brought to justice for their heinous crimes," Parker said.An email and voicemail seeking comment from Donham’s son Tom Bryant weren’t immediately returned Tuesday.A group searching the basement of the Leflore County Courthouse in June discovered the unserved arrest warrant charging Donham, then-husband Roy Bryant and brother-in-law J.W.