J. L. Chestnut Jr. | Civil rights lawyer, 77

J. L. Chestnut Jr., 77, the first black lawyer in Selma, Ala., and a prominent attorney in civil rights cases, has died.

Mr. Chestnut's law partner, State Sen. Hank Sanders of Selma, said Mr. Chestnut died Tuesday at a Birmingham, Ala., hospital of complications after an operation.

Mr. Chestnut became a key legal figure in the civil rights battles in Selma. Later he defended blacks in major voter-fraud prosecutions and helped black farmers make financial claims against the U.S. Agriculture Department.

His legal work included defending blacks in major voter-fraud prosecutions brought by the Justice Department in western Alabama in the 1980s. He joined other black leaders in a meeting with then-Attorney General Edwin Meese in 1985 to complain about the department's handling of civil rights issues.

Later he was a lead attorney in a class-action lawsuit that thousands of black farmers filed against the Agriculture Department for regularly denying subsidies and other assistance to them because of their race.

A federal judge approved a settlement of the case in 2000 and Mr. Chestnut led the appeals for thousands of farmers who were denied compensation in the federal settlement. - AP