Ghosts of Mississippi

Medgar Evers was an African-American civil rights activist in Mississippi who was murdered on June 12, 1963. It was suspected that Byron De La Beckwith (James Woods), a white supremacist and World War II veteran, was the murderer. He had been tried twice for the murder in the 1960s and both trials ended in hung juries which leaves him acquitted. Evers' widow Myrlie Evers (Whoopi Goldberg), now a civil rights activist, had been trying to bring Beckwith to justice for 25 years. In 1989, encouraged by a newspaper article by Jerry Mitchell (Jerry Levine) exposing jury tampering by the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission in the first two trials, Myrlie Evers believed she had what it would take to bring Beckwith to trial again. Although most of the evidence from the original trial had gone missing, assistant District Attorney Bobby DeLaughter (Alec Baldwin) decided to help her despite being warned that this may hurt his political aspirations and the strain that this caused in his marriage. DeLaughter forms a small team of investigators from his office, however the investigation suffers many setbacks. After learning that several of the key witnesses have died, and the court transcript of their testimony from the 1960s trials is missing, the team is convinced this is a useless endeavor. This is reinforced when DeLaughter fails at a desperate strategy of convincing two police officers who provided Beckwith with an alibi in the 1960s trials to admit they lied under oath. However, their pessimism grows weak with two discoveries. The rifle used in the murder, believed to have been missing, was hiding in plain sight. Later, one of the investigators learn of the existence of a witness unknown to the prosecution in the 1960s trials, Delmar Dennis. Dennis was a former member of the Ku Klux Klan who agreed to be an undercover informant for the FBI. Dennis testified against the Ku Klux Klan in the Mississippi Burning case, and once mentioned having met Beckwith. The investigation turns to find Dennis, who was living in hiding since turning state's evidence on the Ku Klux Klan, to see what he knows of the case. Once confirming that Dennis indeed had met Beckwith, the team is optimistic that they have enough to secure a new indictment. As knowledge became public that the district attorney's office has reopened the case, white supremacist elements threaten DeLaughter and his children, having by this time separated from his wife. After committing to her that he will replace Beckwith on trial, initially skeptical of DeLaughter, Myrlie reveals that she has a court certified transcript of one of the 1960s trials in her possession. DeLaughter has long seeked such a transcript to be able to read testimony from deceased witnesses to the jury for a new trial. DeLaughter mostly presents the same case as was presented in the 1960s trial, with the addition of Dennis and two other witnesses who supported Dennis' testimony. Detective Lloyd Bennett read the testimony of his father, Detective L.C. Bennett, the police officer who found the murder weapon while searching the crime scene, to the jury. On February 5, 1994, Beckwith was found guilty by the jury made of eight African-Americans and four whites, and sentenced to life imprisonment. The film ends with Myrlie rejoicing while weeping to the assembled crowd at the courthouse that she never gave up the struggle for justice for Medgar.