Father James Coyle (died August 11, 1921), a Catholic priest, was the victim of a notorious Ku Klux Klan murder in Alabama during the 1920's.

Coyle was murdered on the porch of St. Paul's Rectory in Birmingham, Alabama by Klansman E.R. Stephenson. The murder happened after Stephenson's daughter married a Puerto Rican man against her father's wishes. Coyle performed the marriage ceremony prompting Stephenson, a Methodist preacher who disapproved of Catholics and Puerto Ricans, to shoot Coyle.

Stephenson was subsequently charged with Coyle's murder in an Alabama court. The Ku Klux Klan, however, used its organization to secure Stephenson's acquital. The case was assigned to the courtroom of Judge William E. Fort, a klansman himself. Hugo Black, a Klan attorney and future United States Senator, defended Stephenson. Fort and Black ensured that several Klansmen were selected on the jury and communicated to them using the organization's hand gestures during the trial. As a result Stephenson was acquitted on only one vote of the jury.

The outcome of murder trial for Coyle's assassin had a chilling impact on Catholics, who found themselves the target of Klan violence for many years to come.

See also

• James Coyle, the author of the Mystic BBS software.