La. Man Pleads Guilty to KKK Initiation Killing

A Louisiana man has pleaded guilty to killing a 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.

Klan recruit Cynthia Lynch was shot and killed in November 2008 during initiation rites in rural Louisiana.

On Monday, a former member of the KKK, which is a white supremacist group, testified that 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."

Lynch had been recruited over the Internet to participate in the ritual and then return to her home state of Oklahoma to find other members for the white supremacist group, the prosecutor said.

The state alleged she had been shot and killed her after a fight broke out when she asked to be taken back to town.

Foster was charged with second-degree murder and is being held without bond. Capt. George Bonnett, a spokesman for the sheriff's department, said he doesn't know if Foster has an attorney.

Seven others - five men and two women ages 20 to 30 - were charged with obstruction of justice and were held on $500,000 bond at the St. Tammany Parish jail.

Authorities said some of the suspects tried to destroy evidence by burning the woman's belongings along with other items. At the campsite, investigators found weapons, several flags and six Klan robes, some emblazoned with patches reading "KKK LIFE MEMBER" or "KKK SECURITY Enforcement."

Authorities said the group's members called themselves the "Dixie Brotherhood."

Mark Pitcavage, director of investigative research for the Anti-Defamation League, said in 2008 that the Dixie Brotherhood appears to be a small, loosely organized group of people.

"This is not what I would call an established Klan group," he said. "The Klan has a pretty high association with violence. Some of these guys are just crooks, sociopaths."