New Beckwith Trial to Track Racist History : Mississippi: White supremacist is accused of killing civil rights leader Medgar Evers more than 30 years ago. Two earlier trials ended in hung juries.

When Medgar Evers was cut down more than 30 years ago, his assassin was aiming at more than the fiery NAACP leader--he meant to kill black dreams of racial justice in Mississippi.

He succeeded in his first aim; he was less successful in his second. And once again Mississippi is seeking to come to grips with both, putting white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith on trial for Evers’ murder.

“I think the fact that the state has taken the initiative makes a great statement about the progress Mississippi has made as a society,” said Charles Sallis, a Millsaps College professor whose 1974 history book once was banned from Mississippi’s schools for dealing too honestly with the state’s racist past.

Sallis added, however: “A lot still has to be done.”

The trial, which began last week and is expected to last several weeks, will be the third for Beckwith, a onetime fertilizer salesman whose fingerprint authorities say was on the sight of the hunting rifle that killed Evers on June 12, 1963. Two all-white juries in 1964 failed to reach verdicts.

Beckwith, now 73, has maintained that he was in his hometown of Greenwood when Evers was shot in the back in the driveway of his Jackson home.

“That’s 93 miles away. It would have had to have been a mighty powerful rifle for me to have done it,” said Beckwith, who contends the rifle was stolen from him.

Jury selection will take place in Panola County, a predominantly white county in northern Mississippi, where attorneys hope publicity about the case has not tainted potential jurors. Once a jury is picked, the case will be moved back to Jackson for testimony.

That testimony will take place in the same courtroom as the previous two trials held in 1964--a year marked by the murders of three civil rights workers in Neshoba County. It was the “Freedom Summer,” when hundreds of volunteers from the North and South set up programs designed to promote black voter registration.

Evers, the state NAACP field secretary, had championed voting rights and helped organize economic boycotts of businesses that discriminated.

“It’s imperative, not just important, that we go on with this trial,” said his widow, Myrlie Evers. “Justice has not been done in this case.”

Mrs. Evers, who campaigned for years to have the case reopened, said a conviction would be important not only for Mississippi and the nation but “for me and my family. That night is like a movie that is on replay every day. I have not forgotten.”

Mrs. Evers had allowed her three children to remain awake to greet their father that night. They recognized the sound of his car pulling into the driveway about 12:30 a.m., and then heard the single shot.

A grand jury re-indicted Beckwith in December, 1990, after The Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Jackson reported that secret files from the now-defunct state Sovereignty Commission showed the old segregation watchdog agency had been asked to investigate jurors for Beckwith’s second trial.

Prosecutors said they found no evidence of jury tampering, but steady pressure from Mrs. Evers and black leaders kept the investigation alive.

The case was taken to the grand jury after prosecutors said they located witnesses with new information.

One of those witnesses was the Rev. Robert L. T. Smith of Jackson, who died in October. Smith said in 1990 that he saw Beckwith at a meeting at a black Baptist church in Jackson the night Evers was slain--a meeting that Evers also attended. That claim contradicts two alibi witnesses who testified at Beckwith’s previous trials.

Court documents show prosecutors have subpoenaed at least 19 witnesses, including nine people who testified in the 1964 trials. Among the new witnesses are Peggy Morgan, who lawyers claim Beckwith told in 1966 that he had killed Evers, and Delmar Dennis, a former Ku Klux Klansman who also claims Beckwith bragged about the slaying.

Beckwith still preaches white supremacy and directs those interested in his past to read his biography, “Glory in Conflict.”

Both Charlie Sallis and Myrlie Evers view the trial as symbolic for Mississippi.

“Mississippi has a chance to finally put this behind them,” Mrs. Evers said. “They can say to the country and to the world that Mississippi has changed or they can say it’s the same old boys’ network that has been its past.”

Sallis said that although it would be difficult for prosecutors to reconstruct what happened three decades ago, “what we do know for a fact was that there was bias and prejudice working in the state at that time. It was a closed society.”

Medgar Evers’ Slaying: A Chronology

Events after the 1963 slaying of civil rights activist Medgar Evers and the subsequent cases against Byron De La Beckwith:

* June 12, 1963: Evers shot and killed in his driveway in Jackson.

* June 21, 1963: Beckwith arrested on civil rights charge in connection with the slaying.

* July 2, 1963: Grand jury indicts Beckwith on murder charge.

* Feb. 7, 1964: Mistrial in Beckwith’s first trial declared, with the all-white jury deadlocked 6-6.

* April 17, 1964: Another mistrial declared, with the all-white jury deadlocked 8-4 to acquit.

* March 10, 1969: Murder charge against Beckwith dismissed.

* Oct. 1, 1989: Newspaper reports that secret files of the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission show it aided Beckwith’s defense in his second trial by screening potential jurors.

* --Oct. 31, 1989: Hinds County district attorney announces he will let a grand jury decide if jury tampering took place.

* Dec. 14, 1990: Grand jury again indicts Beckwith.

* Oct. 3, 1991: Beckwith arrives in Jackson after nine-month extradition fight.

* Oct. 8, 1991: Beckwith pleads not guilty.

* Aug. 24, 1992: Mississippi Supreme Court agrees to hear arguments on whether Beckwith should face third trial.

* Dec. 16, 1992: Mississippi Supreme Court approves new trial.

* Dec. 23, 1992: Beckwith released on $100,000 bond.

* Oct. 4, 1993: U.S. Supreme Court refuses to consider Beckwith’s double-jeopardy appeal.

Source: Associated Press