Plot

A Mississippi district attorney and the widow of Medgar Evers struggle to finally bring a white supremacist to justice for the 1963 murder of the civil rights leader.

Ghosts of Mississippi is a real-life drama covering the final trial of Byron De La Beckwith, the assassin of heroic civil rights leader Medgar Evers. The movie begins with the murder on June 12, 1963 and the events surrounding the two initial trials which both ended in hung juries. The movie then covers district attorney Bobby De Laughter's transformation and alliance with Myrlie Evers, Medgar Evers' widow, as he becomes more involved with bringing Beckwith to trial for the third time 30 years later. Byron De La Beckwith was convicted on February 5, 1994, after having remained a free man for much of the 30 years after the murder, giving justice for Medgar Evers' family.—Joel Schesser <[email protected]>

Medgar Evers is a black civil rights activist in Mississippi, who was gunned down by an assassin on June 12, 1963. This is later suspected that Byron De La Beckwith, a white supremacist, is the murderer and he would be tried twice and both trials ended in hung juries. For more than 30 years, Evers' widow Myrlie has been trying to bring Beckwith to justice and she believes that she has what it takes to bring him to trial again. However, most of the evidence from the original trial have gone missing but assistant D.A. Bobby De Laughter decides to do what he can to help her despite being warned that this might hurt his political aspirations and the strain it's causing on his marriage.—[email protected]

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.