Byron De La Beckwith was found guilty of the murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers on February 5, 1994, 31 years after the crime was actually committed. De La Beckwith was arrested and brought to trial twice in the 1960s, but both times all-white juries deadlocked on a verdict.
On June 12, 1963, at age 42, he assassinated NAACP and civil rights leader Medgar Evers shortly after the activist arrived home in Jackson. Beckwith was positioned across the street with an Enfield .30-06 caliber rifle, and he shot Evers in the back. Medgar Evers died an hour later, aged 37 years. Myrlie Evers, his wife, and his three children, James, Reena, and Darrell Evers, were home at the time of the assassination. Before his conviction, De La Beckwith was living in Signal Mountain, Tennessee. He was extradited to Mississippi for trial at the Hinds County Courthouse in Jackson. Before his trial, “Beckwith, a 71-year-old white supremacist, had asked the justices to dismiss the case against him on the grounds that it violated his rights to a speedy trial, due process and protection from double jeopardy.” The court ruled against his motion by a 4 to 3 vote, and the case was scheduled to be heard in January 1994. was living in Signal Mountain, Tennessee. He was extradited to Mississippi for trial at the Hinds County Courthouse in Jackson. Before his trial, Beckwith, a 71-year-old white supremacist, had asked the justices to dismiss the case against him on the grounds that it violated his rights to a speedy trial, due process and protection from double jeopardy. The court ruled against his motion by a 4 to 3 vote, and the case was scheduled to be heard in January 1994. As stated earlier Beckwith had already gone thru 2 trails in the 60’s. During this third trial, the murder weapon was presented, an Enfield .30-06 caliber rifle, with Beckwith’s fingerprints. Beckwith claimed that the gun was stolen from his house. He listed his health problems, high blood pressure, lack of energy, and kidney problems, saying “I need a list to recite everything I suffer from, and I hate to complain because I’m not the complaining type”. The 1994 state trial was held before a jury consisting of eight blacks and four whites. They convicted De La Beckwith of first-degree murder for killing Medgar Evers. New evidence included testimony that he had boasted of the murder at a Klan rally, and that he had also boasted of the murder to others during the three decades since the crime had occurred. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for first-degree murder without the possibility of parole. On January 21, 2001, De La Beckwith died after he was transferred from prison to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi. He was 80 years old.
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