The shooting of civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson shaped history. His death provided yet another spark for the civil rights movement that ultimately changed this country for the better.

Jackson’s death in 1965 was tragic, horrible and cold-blooded. And, to add insult to injury, the person ultimately responsible for the shooting went 45 years without admitting it or being held responsible.

That all changed in November 2010, when former Alabama State Trooper James Fowler pled guilty to second-degree manslaughter charges for shooting Jackson at a civil rights demonstration in Perry County.

Although a six-month sentence was nowhere near appropriate for the brutal killing of a young man, the fact Jackson’s killer would spend some time behind bars for his actions was somewhat comforting. Somewhat.

Now, Fowler is trying to manipulate the system saying his health prevents him from serving the remaining few weeks of his six-month sentence. His health. What about Jackson’s health when the trigger was pulled in 1965, Mr. Fowler?

District Attorney Michael Jackson is right in opposing the motion filed by Fowler’s attorney and we hope the April 4 hearing in front of Circuit Judge Tommy Jones will simply be a formality in requiring Fowler to serve the remaining days of his sentence — the full term of his sentence.

It took 45 years for Jackson’s family to finally have some semblance of justice. The very least they should get now is the satisfaction in knowing the person who killed their loved one served his sentence, his full sentence.