Sheriff: Arrest warrant moot for kidnapping of Emmett Till

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi sheriff says in a new court filing that there’s no point in serving an arrest warrant on a white woman in the 1955 kidnapping that led to the lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till. Leflore County Sheriff Ricky Banks says the warrant is moot because a grand jury decided last year not to indict the woman now known as Carolyn Bryant Donham. Researchers supporting the Till family found the unserved warrant in June. The grand jury met in August. A Till cousin sued Banks in February, seeking to compel him to serve the warrant on Donham. In a response Thursday, Banks’ attorney asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit.