COLUMBIA--South Carolina senators are debating whether to open a new investigation into the 1968 shooting of three civil rights protesters in the Orangeburg Massacre -- and whether the findings of such a probe might lead to criminal action or civil lawsuits for the state.

A Charleston senator said Thursday that a legislative committee may ask private investigators to help with the inquiry.

Earlier this month, Gov. Mark Sanford apologized for the Feb. 8, 1968, incident in which South Carolina Highway Patrol troopers shot and killed three people and injured 27 others during a protest outside an Orangeburg bowling alley. It was a statement that no other South Carolina governor had made. Most had simply said they regretted the incident.

Since then, some senators have used the apology as a way into the issue. Maggie Glover, D-Florence, said that Sanford's apology opened the door to finding out what really happened that night.

Robert Ford, D-Charleston, has introduced legislation to create a commission that would make recommendations about compensation for the victims and families. Darrell Jackson, D-Columbia, asked the Senate last week to pass legislation setting up a task force to investigate the shooting.

"This is just a fact-finding mission. There are no ulterior motives here," Jackson said. "My intention is not to embarrass anyone. Let's just get the facts on the table."

Jackson said there would be no fiscal impact to the state, that he wasn't asking for compensation to be part of the package and that he would be willing to give immunity to anyone involved. Jackson said he was more interested in exonerating the victims than convicting anyone.

But Sen. John Hawkins, R-Spartanburg, a lawyer, said any findings from a non-paid, non-professional panel could open up former officers and even the state to civil lawsuits or criminal action.

"You can't give immunity," Hawkins said. The Senate has no power over judicial matters, he said.

Also, any state-sponsored investigation that found the state at fault in the incident could leave South Carolina vulnerable to costly lawsuits, Hawkins and other senators argued.

If the state admits, through a commission of its making, that the troopers acted improperly, it could make it easy for victims to win civil lawsuits against the state. That is why, some people say, past governors have avoided apologizing for the incident, stopping at merely saying they "regretted" it.

Others argue that apologizing implies guilt. Sanford has said nothing further about the matter. At the time, his staff said that the governor was simply doing the right thing and that's all he had to say about it.

In the 1968 incident, students from South Carolina State and Claflin universities were demonstrating outside the only bowling alley in town to protest its ban on black customers. On the fourth night of the protest, police extinguished a bonfire the students had set. When the students re-lit the fire, officers moved to put it out again. After one patrolman was injured, another fired warning shots into the air. More gunfire erupted, and 30 people were shot. Three of them died.

Jackson and Ford met with some resistance in the Senate this week, and tempers flared briefly.

Sen. Warren Giese, R-Columbia, asked what, exactly, the senators wanted to investigate. "Why those students were rioting?"

Giese's remark drew the ire of Sen. Kay Patterson, D-Columbia, who said, "Those kids weren't rioting. The state troopers were rioting when they shot those kids in the back."

Ford said he thought the Senate had better race relations than the outburst illustrated, but he still feels the investigative panel idea will get a fair hearing in the Senate's Judiciary Committee.

"The subcommittee will come up with a good plan," Ford said. "We might use some SLED agents, some former agents who are now private investigators. They'd probably do it for free."

Although some lawmakers doubt the measure will pass the Legislature, Ford said he believes the General Assembly will settle the issue once and for all.