KKK leader pleads not guilty to murder

Chained at his wrists and ankles and donning a grey and white striped prison suit, a Bogalusa area Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan accused of killing a recruit in November hobbled into a courtroom Tuesday and pleaded not guilty, District Attorney Walter Reed spokesman Rick Wood said.

Without sitting down during the arraignment, Raymond Chuck Foster, 44, entered the plea in front of a throng of television media cameras and journalists with notepads in state Judge Peter Garcia’s Courtroom, Wood said.

“He answered a few questions and pleaded not guilty,” said Wood, who was present during the arraignment.

Foster is accused of shooting to death 43-year-old Cynthia Lynch Nov. 9 when she decided to back out of a KKK initiation ceremony on the marshy banks of the Pearl River in Sun. Authorities at the time said Foster even burned her belongings to cover up the crime, dumped her body about 1/2 mile from the shooting and tried to dig out the bullet with a knife.

If convicted, Foster faces a life sentence without the possibility of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. Garcia granted prosecutor Joseph Oubre’s request for Foster to remain in jail without bond.

Last week, three other alleged members of the KKK, including Foster’s son, Shane Foster, who were all present at the murder, pleaded not guilty, one by reason of insanity, for obstruction of justice charges and being an accessory after the fact to murder.

Shane Foster entered the guilty plea by reason of insanity. Frank Stafford, 21, also indicted for obstruction of justice, and Danielle Jones, 23, charged with accessory after the fact, both pleaded not guilty Thursday in front of state District Court Judge Reginald “Reggie” Badeaux III.

All are tentatively scheduled for trial April 27.

Although “rare, but not uncommon,” the insanity plea suggests Shane Foster’s attorney John Lindner will try to prove his client was insane only at the time of the offense, First Assistant District Attorney Gascon said.

Lindner did not file a motion that his client was and is insane, which would require sanity commissions to determine whether Foster is fit to stand trial.

The Fosters were just two of eight alleged KKK members eventually arrested in the swamps surrounding the Pearl River. The four others, Timothy Michael Watkins, 31, Alicia Watkins, 23, Andrew Yates and Random Hines, were not indicted, said court spokesman Rick Wood. Timothy Watkins and Hines were free on bail at the time of the indictments.

All suspects are from Washington Parish, where the Klan flourished in the 1960s but has since waned in power. The shooting was the first major KKK-related crime that law enforcement officers from both St. Tammany and Washington parishes recalled in recent memory. The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office investigated the crime because it occurred in Sun, just inside its jurisdiction.

Chuck Foster is no stranger to law enforcement. Strain said he has a lengthy rap sheet dating back to the 1980s that includes a conviction for manslaughter, among other crimes.