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Charles David Myers

Released
Date of birth:1940
Gender:Male
Era:1960s
State:Mississippi
Support
Civil Rights
Charles David Myers

Biography

Charles David Myers was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on May 28, 1961, for participating in the Freedom Rides and challenging segregation in interstate transportation — one of the arrests recorded by the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission and preserved in the Civil Rights Digital Library. The catalog establishes the arrest, the participation, and the individually identified police photograph, but not the court disposition, any transfer to Parchman, or the physical release date; those fields are unresolved pending county-jail, court, or penitentiary records.

The certiorari petition individually names this rider and distinguishes the initial municipal sentence (sixty days suspended and a $200 fine) from the county-court trial de novo sentence (four months in jail; the petition is internally inconsistent about the county fine). These are imposed sentences, not proof that four months were served. Existing physical custody endpoints, actual-duration evidence and any later reversal remain unchanged. The jointly filed petition individually lists this rider and explicitly states that all petitioners entered pleas of not guilty for their Hinds County Court trials de novo. The previously blank plea field records that county-trial plea only; it does not change the later disposition or establish physical custody dates.

Thomas v. Mississippi certiorari papers, including deputy clerk Robert Lilly’s October 26, 1964 affidavit, PDF pages 14, 15.

Case

Arrested: May 28, 1961
Incarcerated: May 28, 1961
Sentence: Jailed in Jackson on May 28, 1961 following the Freedom Ride arrest. Fellow rider David Fankhauser identifies Myers as his companion in the city jail. Individual sentencing and release dates remain unresolved. Municipal court: sixty days suspended and a $200 fine. County-court trial de novo: four months in jail. The petition gives conflicting county-fine figures, so no new county-fine amount is assigned. These imposed terms are distinct from time actually confined.
Convicted: Yes
Plead: Not Guilty