Henry Francis Hays

Henry Francis Hays (November 10, 1954 – June 6, 1997) was a member of the United Klans of America, a Ku Klux Klan group in Alabama, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1981 lynching-style murder of Michael Donald, a 19-year-old African American. He was executed in 1997. This was the first execution in Alabama since 1913 for a white-on-black crime, and the first execution of a known KKK member in the United States in the 20th century for murder of an African American.

History of murder

The murder was ordered by UKA leader Bennie Hays, reportedly to "show Klan strength in Alabama," after he and others were unhappy about the outcome of a case in which a black man was accused of killing a white policeman. His son Henry Hays and his accomplices abducted Donald at random from a Mobile street, took him to an isolated location, beat him and strangled him, cutting his throat to ensure he was dead. They hanged his body from a tree across the street from Hays' home.

After a brief investigation, the city police claimed that Donald had been murdered due to disagreement over a drug deal, but his mother insisted that Donald was not involved with drugs. The assistant US Attorney in Mobile, as well as activists, pressed the FBI to investigate the case. Hays and fellow KKK member, James Knowles— the two men who murdered Donald— were arrested, tried, and convicted. Knowles, who appeared as the chief prosecution witness, was convicted of violating Donald's civil rights and sentenced to life in prison. Hays was tried six months later and received a death sentence. A third man, truck driver Benjamin Franklin Cox, Jr., was convicted as an accomplice and sentenced to life. Henry's father Bennie Jack Hays, a leader of the UKA, was indicted for inciting the murder, but his trial ended in mistrial when he collapsed in court due to grave illness. Before he could be tried again, he died.

While on death row, Henry Hays was incarcerated at the Holman Correctional Facility in Escambia County, Alabama. Hays, Alabama Institutional Serial #Z443, entered death row on February 2, 1984. He was executed on June 6, 1997.

Donald's mother, Beulah Mae Donald, with assistance of the Southern Poverty Law Center, sued United Klans of America for wrongful death in a civil suit. An all-white jury found the Klan responsible for the murder of Michael Donald and ordered a $7 million judgment. The UKA was bankrupted and had to hand over all its assets, including its national headquarters in Tuscaloosa. This ruined the Klan in Alabama.

Hays was executed in Alabama's electric chair Yellow Mama after Governor Fob James refused to commute his sentence. He was the first white person executed in Alabama for murder of a black citizen since 1913, and was the only known member of the KKK to be executed in the United States in the 20th century for murder of an African American. Hays was 42 years old when executed.

References

• Klan Member Put to Death In Race Death
• Michael Donald