Figures earned convictions on two members of the Ku Klux Klan for the lynching of Michael Donald and testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee against the judicial nomination of Jeff Sessions.
The FBI was about to close the investigation when Figures insisted that they reopen it, finding evidence that led them to the two suspects, who were arrested in 1983 and convicted of murder.
[5] Figures resigned in 1985[6] in protest of United States Attorney Jeff Sessions' prosecution of community activists in Perry County, including Albert Turner, for voter fraud.
[7] Figures testified about his experience working with Sessions in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which rejected the nomination.
[9] In 1992, Figures was indicted on one count of bribery for allegedly offering $50,000 and other assistance to a witness in a drug case not to testify that he was working as a defense attorney.
[11] Governor Fob James removed two members of the ASU's board of trustees and appointed Figures to one of the positions on September 30, 1998.