Ghosts of Mississippi Page #9

...and ended the life of Medgar Evers

is this defendant...

...Byron De La Beckwith.

Mr. Coxwell?

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

My name is Merrida Coxwell.

This is James Kitchens...

...and we are representing

Mr. Beckwith.

Mr. DeLaughter started

his opening statement...

...by saying that this was

a very simple case.

I agree with him.

But what Mr. DeLaughter is going

to rely on is for you...

...to convict Mr. Beckwith

simply because of his opinions.

That's because...

...he knows that the state cannot prove

to you beyond a reasonable doubt...

...that the defendant committed

the crime.

By the time this trial is over...

...you will have seen it was

physically impossible...

...for Mr. Byron De La Beckwith

to have killed Medgar Evers.

Mr. Beckwith is not guilty.

That's what the proof will show.

Thank you.

The state may call its first witness.

The state calls Myrlie Evers.

Raise your right hand.

Do you swear to tell the truth...

-...the whole truth, so help you God?

-I do.

Be seated.

Will you tell us your name?

My name is Myrlie Evers.

Going back to 1963,

were you married at that time?

Yes, I was.

And to whom were you married?

Medgar Wylie...

...Evers.

When was the last time

you saw your husband alive?

June 11, 1963.

I'd fallen behind...

...in my housework

and got up early that morning...

...to iron some shirts for Medgar.

By the time he woke...

...I had 10 freshly ironed shirts

neatly hung on hangers.

He said, "I thank you

for ironing these shirts...

...but I'm not going to need them."

Before he left for work that morning,

he kissed us all goodbye...

...and then left.

But then he came back...

...and took me aside.

He said, "If anything

should happen to me...

...I want you to promise me...

...you will take care of my babies."

I said, "Of course.

They're my babies too."

He then kissed us all

goodbye again and left.

Could you tell the jury

what you remember...

...seeing and hearing when your husband

returned home that night?

It was just after midnight

when he got home.

We heard the car.

And then there was...

...this horrible blast.

The children...

...fell to the floor

as their father had taught them.

I bolted to the front door.

Medgar was lying in the carport.

He still had his keys in his hand.

Blood everywhere.

The children came out

shortly after I did...

...and they were screaming...

... "Daddy!

Daddy, get up!

Daddy, please get up."

But I knew he would

never get up again.

Nothing further, Your Honor.

Mr. McIntyre, have you ever owned

a 1917 Enfield.30-06 rifle?

Yes, I have.

Did you own that rifle in 1963?

Sometime, I believe in 1960,

I traded it to Mr. Beckwith.

Mr. McIntyre, I want to show you

this firearm and ask if you would...

...read the serial number

on the barrel, please.

1-0-5-2-6-8-2.

Thank you. Going back to exhibit 35,

would you read the serial number...

...on the invoice of the gun

that you purchased...

...and later traded to Mr. Beckwith?

1-0-5-2-6-8-2.

Ms. Holder, were you at Joe's Drive-In

on the night of June 11, 1963?

Yes, sir.

I wasn't working, but I was there

hanging out with my friends.

T ell the jury if there came

a time when your attention...

...was directed towards

any particular automobile.

Being a carhop, you notice cars.

This one had a long antenna

on the side of it.

We thought at first

it was a patrol car.

It was white and it had

a lot of mud on it.

It was a Plymouth Valiant.

Mr. Hargrove, were you employed by the

Jackson Police Department in June 1963?

Yes, I was.

In charge of the ldentification Division

for 42 years.

Did you reach a conclusion

as to whose fingerprint...

...was on the telescopic side

of the gun...

...recovered in your presence

on June 12, 1963?

Yes, sir. I did.

With 14 points of identification,

there's more than enough...

...to identify the fingerprint

of Mr. Byron De La Beckwith.

After four days of testimony in the

trial of white supremacist Beckwith...

...the prosecution, thus far, has

presented essentially the same case...

...as was offered up

in the two original trials.

However, this time there are

two significant differences.

First, the makeup of the jury.

In 1964, Beckwith faced

two all-male, all-white juries.

Today, he faces a jury made up

of eight blacks and four whites.

Tomorrow the prosecution is expected

to introduce three new witnesses...

... who did not testify

in the first two trials.

State your name for the record.

Delmar Dennis.

Mr. Dennis, in March of 1964...

...were you a member

of an organization known as...

...the White Knights

of the Ku Klux Klan?

I was.

In September of that year...

...did you become

a paid informant for the FBl?

I did.

And in your capacity as informant...

...did you ever encounter

the defendant, Byron De La Beckwith?

I did.

What were the circumstances

of that encounter?

On August 8, 1965,

I met Mr. Beckwith...

...at a Klan meeting

in Byram, Mississippi.

He was a featured speaker that night.

Now, during that talk, would you tell

the jury what, if anything...

...the defendant said about the murder

or shooting death of Medgar Evers.

He said, "Killing that n*gger gave me

no more inner discomfort...

...than our wives endure

giving birth to our children.

We gotta kill those enemies...

...including the President,

from the top down."

Did he say anything else?

Yes, sir.

He said, "You're gonna get away

with it like I did."

Thank you, Mr. Dennis.

Your witness.

You have seen FBl reports

about your activities...

...as a paid informant, haven't you?

Mr. DeLaughter's office

furnished me with copies.

In fact, there are...

...pages and pages of dialogue...

...that you reported

to the FBl of things...

...that various people said

over lunch, over dinner...

...riding in cars, meetings.

Isn't that right?

Yet, nowhere in all those reports...

...does the quotation that you

attributed to Mr. Beckwith appear.

Does it?

Maybe the pages got lost

over the years.

And maybe they never existed.

Objection.

Sustained.

Dog ate my homework.

Mr. Dennis, did Byron De La Beckwith...

...ever specifically say

that he killed Medgar Evers?

He never said, "I killed

Medgar Evers. "That's true.

No further questions.

That's what he meant.

We ask that the witness's unsolicited

opinion be stricken...

...and that the jury disregard it.

The jury will disregard

Mr. Dennis' last statement.

I was standing out in the yard,

and he said something to me about...

...having been tried twice

in Mississippi...

...for "killing that n*gger."

And what'd he say about that?

He said...

... "I had a job to do and I did it."

Thank you, Mr. Prince.

Nothing further.

Back in 1986, when Mr. Beckwith

allegedly made this statement to you...

...you went straight

to the authorities, didn't you?

Well, you must've told

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