Louisiana Klan leader pleads guilty in killing
Published 12:00 am Thursday, May 6, 2010
COVINGTON, La. (AP) — A Louisiana man has pleaded guilty to killing an Oklahoma woman during a Ku Klux Klan initiation.
Raymond Foster of Bogalusa was immediately sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for second-degree murder by state District Judge Peter Garcia.
Cynthia Lynch, a Klan recruit from Tulsa, Okla., was shot and killed in November 2008 during initiation rites in rural Tammany Parish, about 50 miles north of New Orleans.
On Monday, a former member of the group testified Lynch angrily cursed Foster and yelled “I want out” before he shot her to death.
After entering his plea Wednesday, Foster’s voice was shaky as he apologized to Lynch’s mother.
He told Virginia Lynch, “I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”