A relative of Emmett Till has filed a federal lawsuit against Leflore County Sheriff Ricky Banks to compel him to arrest Carolyn Bryant Donham for her alleged involvement in Till’s kidnapping and death.
The lawsuit, first reported by The Taxpayers Channel, was filed by Priscilla Sterling, identified in the lawsuit only as a relative of Till. It was filed with the northern district of Mississippi on Tuesday.
Sterling’s lawsuit seeks to declare the sheriff’s “racially selective enforcement of the law” and order him to arrest Donham.
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However, Donham has not been charged with any crime, and there are no current active investigations regarding her alleged role in the 14-year-old Till’s death.
Till, a Black native of Chicago, was visiting family in Money when he was accused of whistling at Donham, who is white, at a grocery store owned by her and her husband at the time, Roy Bryant.
On Aug. 28, 1955, Till was kidnapped by Bryant and his half-brother, J.W. Milam. Till was taken to a barn in Drew where he was tortured, killed and his body thrown in the Tallahatchie River.
Bryant and Milam were acquitted of murder charges by an all white jury, but admitted to killing Till in a 1956 magazine interview.
Till’s brutal death and the decision by his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, to have an open casket at his funeral, galvanized the civil rights movement.
For decades, Donham has faced questions and investigations about her alleged involvement in what happened to Till.
The allegations came up once again last summer when a 1955 arrest warrant for Donham was discovered in the basement of the Leflore County Courthouse.
“To this day, the warrant issued for Carolyn Bryant remains unserved,” Sterling’s lawsuit said. “This action is being brought in order to compel the Leflore County Sheriff to serve the warrant upon Carolyn Bryant.”
Despite being named in the lawsuit, Banks is only mentioned once in its text identifying him as the current Leflore County sheriff. All other references refer to actions taken by “the defendant” or “the Leflore County Sheriff,” even to actions taken in 1955.
For example, the lawsuit said, “The Leflore County Sheriff is complicit in the trio’s escape from justice,” referring to Bryant, Milam and Donham. The sheriff at the time of Till’s murder was George Smith. Banks was a child at that time and didn’t join the department until 1972.
Banks has not filed a response to the lawsuit. He did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
In 2007, a Leflore County grand jury was empaneled following a three-year FBI investigation into Donham, but it resulted in no charges.
A second grand jury was organized last year following the discovery of the 1955 arrest warrant. Again, Donham was not charged due to insufficient evidence, according to Leflore County District Attorney Dewayne Richardson.
In 2017, federal and state authorities opened an investigation into Donham following allegations that she had recanted her statements made in the 1955 trial or the FBI investigation that ended in 2007, allegations that Donham denied.
The investigation was closed in 2021 after no charges were filed due to a lack of new evidence.
- Contact Kevin Edwards at 662-581-7233 or kedwards@gwcommonwealth.com.
