Beckwith Taken to Mississippi for Evers Case Trial
Avowed white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith was extradited to Mississippi on Thursday to stand trial a third time for the 1963 slaying of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.
Two Hinds County, Miss., deputies escorted the 70-year-old Beckwith from Hamilton County Jail less than two hours after a federal judge refused to further delay extradition.
U.S. District Judge R. Allan Edgar rejected requests by Beckwith for both a temporary restraining order and a writ of habeas corpus that would have halted Beckwith’s return. It ended his 10-month battle to avoid going back to Mississippi.
Evers, field secretary for the NAACP in Mississippi, was shot to death on June 12, 1963, in front of his home in Jackson, Miss.
A rifle with Beckwith’s fingerprint was found a short distance from where Evers was slain, and he was tried twice in 1964 for the slaying. But in each case an all-white jury was unable to reach a verdict, resulting in a mistrial.
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