Z 2301.000 DeLaughter (Bobby) Papers

Biography/History:

Bobby B. DeLaughter was born in Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi, on February 28, 1954, where he was raised as the older of two sons of Barney Roy DeLaughter and Billie Newman DeLaughter. DeLaughter and his younger brother attended schools in Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi and Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi. After moving from Natchez, DeLaughter grew up in South Jackson’s white middle class. DeLaughter’s interest in law came after his civics teacher took his ninth-grade class to watch a trial at the Hinds County courthouse. He reflects on this experience in his book Never Too Late: A Prosecutor's Story of Justice in the Medgar Evers Case, “I had known since I was in the ninth grade that I wanted to be a lawyer and had planned my education since then around that ambition.” Before graduating from high school in 1972, DeLaughter was very active and popular at Wingfield High School in Jackson where he was very athletic; playing on both the varsity basketball and football team. He also excelled academically, earning the position of sports editor of the school’s year book as well as serving as the president of the honor society and student council. His popularity due to his athletic skills and his academic excellence propelled students to elect him as “Mr. Wingfield.” After graduation, DeLaughter attended undergraduate and law school at the University of Mississippi, Oxford, Lafayette County. While attending the University of Mississippi, DeLaughter met Dixie Claire Townsend and within months the couple were married. Out of this union three children were born: Burt, Claire, and Drew.

DeLaughter was given the opportunity to work on legal research for the law firm of Alvin Binder before graduating from law school. He was recommended for the position by his father-in-law, Russell Moore, who was serving as a judge at the time. In 1977, DeLaughter was admitted to the Mississippi Bar Association. While working at the Alvin Binder law firm, DeLaughter and Bill Kirksey became partners. In 1983, they left the Binder firm and started their own practice, Kirksey & DeLaughter. After nearly ten years as a criminal and civil defense lawyer, DeLaughter became disinterested in his field of practice and eventually inquired about becoming a prosecuting attorney. This led him to a meeting with the Hinds County district attorney Ed Peters, and in 1987 DeLaughter began working as a prosecutor under Peters.

In October of 1989, Jerry Mitchell, of the Jackson Clarion Ledger, wrote an article implying that there was jury tampering in the second trial of the State of Mississippi v. Byron De La Beckwith. Beckwith, a known white supremacist, was accused of murdering Mississippi NAACP Field Secretary Medgar Evers. Black political leaders including the wife of the slain civil rights activist, Myrlie Evers, demanded that there should be a retrial of the then, twenty-six year old cold case. Ed Peters argued that pursuing a third trial without the key evidence would prove disastrous for the prosecution. The backlash from the black community forced the Jackson City Council and the County Board of Super visors to intervene and demand that an investigation into the allegations of jury tampering be conducted. Following the orders of the mandate, Peters announced on Halloween of 1989 that he was calling a grand jury to investigate the charges of jury tampering in the second Beckwith trial. DeLaughter was assigned as lead investigator and eventually as the key prosecutor of the third trial of the State of Mississippi v. Byron De La Beckwith.

The reopening of the old cold case made DeLaughter a target of contempt and admiration by the American public. DeLaughter’s conviction and determination in pursuing the cold case put a strain on his seventeen year marriage to Dixie. On April 15, 1991, the couple were officially divorced and DeLaughter gained custody of their three children. Despite his family’s apprehensions and his failed marriage, DeLaughter was eager to move forward, as he explains in Never Too Late, “despite my own and my family’s reservations, I knew I couldn’t look myself in the mirror if I knowingly let a man get away with murder. So I pressed on.” DeLaughter’s “pressing on” led to the discovery of the missing evidence that was used in the first two trials including the photos of the crime scene, the 1964 trial transcripts, and the murder weapon that was initially missing from the evidence room. DeLaughter’s persistence in pursuing the Evers case gained him national attention in 1994 when he successfully prosecuted the case and obtained the conviction of Beckwith.

In 1993, DeLaughter had met Peggy Lloyd, a nurse at the local hospital where she treated his daughter Claire after she sustained a head injury at the school gym. Within months the couple were married. After serving twelve years as a Hinds County assistant district attorney, DeLaughter was appointed by Governor Kirk Fordice to serve as Hinds County court judge in December of 1999 and in 2002, he was appointed a circuit court judge for Hinds County. DeLaughter’s involvement in a judicial bribery case landed him on the other side of the judge’s bench on November 13, 2009, after pleading guilty to a federal obstruction of justice charge. On April 13, 2011, DeLaughter was released after serving eighteen months in a federal prison in McCreary County, Kentucky.

DeLaughter chronicled the events surrounding the third trial of the Evers murder in his first book, Never Too Late. The Castle Rock Entertainment movie, Ghosts of Mississippi, is based on the 1994 trial of the State of Mississippi v. Byron De La Beckwith. DeLaughter’s closing argument in his successful prosecution of Beckwith is featured in the book Ladies and Gentleman of the Jury: Greatest Closing Arguments in Modern Law. DeLaughter served as president of the Mississippi Prosecutors Association and was Mississippi’s 1992 representative to the FBI’s National Law Institute in Quantico, Virginia. In its 1997 Anniversary Edition, DeLaughter was honored as one of Mississippi Magazine’s “50 Greatest Mississippians.” DeLaughter was also the first recipient of the University of Mississippi School of Law Alumni Public Service Award in recognition of his years of outstanding public service.

Scope and Content:

This collection documents the reopening of the 1963 murder trial of Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers on October 31, 1989. Included in this collection are trial transcripts; witness interviews; police reports; photographs and negatives; correspondence; printed materials; court papers; writings; and DeLaughter’s personal correspondence.

In 1964, in the case of the State of Mississippi v. Byron De La Beckwith, Beckwith was tried twice for the murder of Medger Evers. A mistrial was declared each time. This collection contains the reporter’s transcript of the first trial which includes the testimony of state witnesses Myrlie Evers and Houston Wells (the neighbor who rushed Evers to the hospital); and of the defense’s witnesses which include the testimony of Byron De La Beckwith. The second transcript consists of the court file copy that details the subpoenas issued by the circuit clerk. The transcripts of the first two trials were utilized by assistant district attorney Bobby DeLaughter in the third trial of Beckwith in 1994. The transcript of the third trial consists of interviews from key state witnesses who testified in the 1964 trials, as well as those of new key witnesses such as Delmar Dennis, Peggy Morgan, and Mary Ann Adams who all testified they heard Beckwith admitting to killing Evers.

This collection also contains the interviews of the former jurors about jury tampering in the first two trials. Interviews from former witnesses and new witnesses are included in this collection. These interviews are available via hardcopies and audio cassette recordings.

The official police report of the murder of Evers, including negatives and enhanced photos of the crime scene; an aerial view of Medgar Evers house; mug shots of Byron De La Beckwith after being charged with the murder of Evers; pictures of the rifle that was used to murder Evers; and photos of the exhumed body of Evers are also included in this collection.

The correspondence consists of letters sent to the district attorney’s office in the aftermath of the 1994 guilty verdict of the State of Mississippi v. Byron De La Beckwith case. They were written by individuals and organizations from across the nation. These letters contained both letters of congratulations and condemnations, including the hate mail that was sent to the offices of Ed Peters and Bobby DeLaughter.

The printed materials consists of clippings and issues of newspapers concerning the first two trials in 1964, Beckwith’s 1973 New Orleans conviction, and articles surrounding the re-indictment and the conviction of Byron De La Beckwith for the 1963 murder of Medgar Evers. Other printed material includes news clippings from the Christian Science Monitor and The Southern Poverty Law.

Letters depicting Byron De La Beckwith’s staunchly segregationist views are also available in this collection. Letters written in regards to his candidacy for the position of lieutenant governor of Mississippi in 1967 are included. In 1973, Beckwith was arrested and charged with transporting explosives without a permit in New Orleans, Louisiana, and was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison. This collection contains a copy of the New Orleans Department of Police report of the incident detailing the events surrounding his arrest. After Beckwith was found guilty of the murder of Medgar Evers, he appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court. This collection contains a copy of his appeal and the court’s decision to uphold the conviction.

This collection also contains personal correspondence of DeLaughter regarding the publication of his book, Never Too Late, with a publishing company; and correspondence between producers over material used in the making of the Castle Rock Entertainment film Ghosts of Mississippi. This collection also includes the personal journals of DeLaughter that he kept throughout the duration of the third trial: they include the draft of his closing argument. Please see Appendix I for more information.