CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Byron De La Beckwith, the convicted assassin of a civil rights pioneer, has died. It was a shooting that launched a long and clouded legal battle.</s>LIN (voice-over): He cheated conviction twice. But in the end, Byron De La Beckwith died serving a life sentence for the murder of Medgar Evers. Medgar Evers was a cornerstone of the civil rights movement. Joining the NAACP in 1952, Evers hoped to fight the racism and discrimination that had kept him from being able to vote, attend a white college or campaign for freedoms without fear of death. Evers made a name for himself with several high-profile cases and causes he took on, including that of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Chicago boy killed in Mississippi for allegedly whistling at a white woman. Evers was 37 years old when he was shot in the back on June 12, 1963. FBI agents arrested Beckwith after identifying his fingerprints on the murder weapon. Two all-white juries acquitted him and the case lay dormant until 1989 when a local newspaper uncovered irregularities in the trial. At the request of Evers' widow, Merlie, the case was reopened the next year.</s>MERLIE EVERS, WIDOW: My God, I don't have to say "accused assassin" any more, I can say "convicted assassin."</s>LIN: Beckwith, a self-proclaimed white supremacist, wore a Confederate flag pin throughout his third trial. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, a decision later upheld by the Mississippi Supreme Court. The trial gained new attention with the 1996 movie "Ghosts of Mississippi". Actor James Woods was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Beckwith. Beckwith died Sunday night after being transferred from his prison cell to a local hospital for an undisclosed condition. A much hated man, who was proud of his efforts to derail the civil rights movement, Byron De La Beckwith was 80 years old.
Convicted Assassin of Medgar Evers Dies