Richard Barrett, a 67 year-old white supremacist lawyer, was found dead Thursday morning in his house in rural Jackson, Mississippi. He had been stabbed, beaten and his body was set on fire. Vincent McGee, a 22 year-old black male, was charged with his murder. McGee, who had done yard work for Barrett, was released from state prison in February after serving five years of a six-year sentence for assault on a police officer and grand larceny.
Barrett is most recently known for attracting about 50 supporters to his 2008 rally in protest of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in the Louisiana town of Jena, where six black teenagers were charged with beating a white classmate. Earlier, he sued over a ban on Confederate flags at University of Mississippi football games and was involved in other demonstrations nationwide.