Ghosts of Mississippi 1996

Medgar Evers, James Pickens Jr, was an African-American civil rights activist in Mississippi, murdered on June 12, 1963. It was suspected that the white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith, James Woods, was the killer. He had already endured two trials in the 1960s that ended in hung juries, and Evers’ widow Myrlie Evers, Whoopi Goldberg, had spent more than a quarter of a century pursuing justice. The case loomed large in the regional psyche, a stark reminder of the violent resistance to progress and the stubborn walls of injustice that persisted long after the crime.

In 1989, Myrlie Evers was buoyed by a newspaper article from Jerry Mitchell that exposed jury tampering by the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission during the earlier trials. She believed the time had finally come to reopen the case. Enter Bobby DeLaughter, Alec Baldwin, an assistant district attorney who took up the cause despite warnings that it could jeopardize his career and strain his marriage. He formed a small team of investigators from his office, including lawyers and researchers who were determined to sift through what had been left behind. Their effort faced immediate headwinds: key witnesses from the 1960s were dead, trial transcripts were missing, and even the old strategy of pressuring two officers who had previously lied under oath seemed unlikely to bear fruit.

Yet two discoveries rekindled hope. First, the murder weapon—long thought lost—emerged from concealment, proving the case still had a tangible thread to follow. Second, a new witness came into focus: Delmar Dennis, Jim Harley, a former Ku Klux Klan member who had turned informant for the FBI. Dennis had testified against the Klan in related cases and asserted he had met De La Beckwith, offering a potential bridge between the old testimony and fresh charges. The investigators now believed they could reconstitute a credible narrative that might finally secure a conviction.

The pursuit intensified as public attention grew. DeLaughter’s team pressed forward with renewed resolve, even as white supremacist elements threatened DeLaughter and his children, complicating the personal stakes of the investigation. Myrlie, who had initially harbored skepticism about pursuing the case anew, revealed that she possessed a court-certified transcript from one of the 1960s trials. This document became a crucial link, allowing DeLaughter to present nearly the same case to a new jury, augmented by Dennis’s testimony and additional witnesses who corroborated his account. The strategy hinged on reviving the essential eyewitnesses and connecting them to De La Beckwith through the newly uncovered evidence.

An important procedural moment came when Detective Lloyd Bennett recited the past testimony of his father, the officer who had located the murder weapon, to the jury. This helped to knit together the threads of the old and new cases, providing a bridge between decades of doubt and the momentum of the fresh indictment. As the refiled case gained legitimacy, the defense faced the challenge of disproving the assembled testimony while contending with the weight of renewed public scrutiny.

The culmination arrived in 1994, when Byron De La Beckwith was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. The verdict marked a landmark moment in the ongoing fight for racial justice, a testament to persistence, courage, and the stubborn resilience of those who refused to let the truth be buried. The film closes with Myrlie Evers tearfully rejoicing at the courthouse, surrounded by supporters and loved ones, as justice—long delayed—finally feels within reach.

Throughout the narrative, the cast threads through the story: Alec Baldwin embodies the determined prosecutor, Whoopi Goldberg gives a grounded portrayal of a widow who never gives up, James Woods portrays the chilling figure at the center of the case, James Pickens Jr anchors the bookends of truth as Medgar Evers, Virginia Madsen embodies Dixie DeLaughter, and Jim Harley brings Delmar Dennis’s perilous risk and loyalty to light. The film also nods to the broader network of people connected to the era—Jerry Levine as Jerry Mitchell, Whoopi Goldberg again in a pivotal role, and others who populate the courtroom drama with nuance and stakes. Each character’s presence deepens the sense that this is not merely a courtroom thriller but a careful study of memory, courage, and the perseverance required to turn the wheels of justice after so many years.