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I Probe to Be Thorough,
Attorneys Tell Group
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I Government prosecutors reportedly told religious and civil
f rights leaders yesterday that federal officials are not immune
% "from a grand jury investigation here of the shooting deaths of
a five Communist Workers Party members.
\ The government prosecutors — U.S. Attorney Kenneth W.
McAllister and Michael D. Johnson and Norajean Flanagan,
1 attorneys with the U.S. Department of Justice — met with the
2 five representatives of civil rights and church groups for more
I than an hour after the grand jury ended its second day of
I studying the violence in November 1979.
| The grand jury, which had 23 members sworn in Monday
I morning, lost a member Monday afternoon when Judge Rich-
8 ard C. Erwin dismissed one juror. Erwin declined yesterday to
say why the juror was dismissed.
| McAllister and, Johnson said after the meeting that they
1 answered all questions asked, but both declined to discuss the
.questions.
During interviews after the meeting, though, the five repre-
' sentatives said that McAllister and Johnson elaborated on the
. Justice Department's earlier statement that the grand jury .
• will make a full and complete investigation of the incident Nov.
I 3, 1979.
The Rev. William J. Davis, director of the Christie Institute
| in Washington, said that McAllister and Johnson assured the
group that federal officials are not exempt from the grand jury
investigation.
"They said several times that there are no targets and no
exemptions," Davis said.
Loretta Williams, director of the Unitarian section on social
responsibility, said that McAllister and Johnson cited cases in
which federal officials have been indicted by grand juries.
See Attorneys, Page 21
Attorneys Assure Group
Of Probe's Thoroughness
Continued From Page 13
"They are anxious that people not think of the government as
a monolith," she said.
Davis and Ms. Williams are among a contingent of religious
and civil rights leaders who came to Winston-Salem Monday
when the grand jury began its investigation of possible civil-
rights violations. The five are concerned about allegations that
have lingered since six Nazis and Ku Klux Klansmen were
acquitted in the shooting deaths after a 5^-month trial in
Guilford Superior Court.
Those allegations include charges that local and federal
agents took part in the planning of a Nazi and Ku Klux Klan
caravan to the site of the shootings at an anti-Klan rally.
Davis said that the group told McAllister and Johnson that it
is specifically concerned about participation in the caravan by
government agents. He said that McAllister and Johnson declined to identify any specific government officials who may be
investigated.
Members of the group said that they generally felt better
after the meeting although they still have doubts about the
scope of the grand jury.
"At this point I'm neither satisfied nor disappointed," Davis
said.
Although Erwin declined yesterday to say why the juror was
dismissed, he had instructed the grand jurors before they began
work Monday that they should disqualify themselves if they
had any strong biases or prejudices about the case.
The federal law concerning grand jufors is not specific and
allows a judge to excuse a juror "for pause."
