New York, NY, July 31, 1995...The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today filed an amicus curiae brief urging the Mississippi State Supreme Court to uphold the conviction of Byron de la Beckwith for the murder of Medgar Evers in 1963.

"This verdict," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, "serves justice in a pivotal case of the civil rights era: the assassination of the Mississippi head of the NAACP amidst the most violent and concerted effort to resist desegregation in American history." Said Foxman, "The conviction sends a clear signal that racial hatred will not go unpunished in this country."

In Beckwith v. State of Mississippi, Beckwith claims the conviction should be overturned because his right to a speedy trial was denied. The ADL brief argues "Those guilty of assassinating political figures because of their beliefs or because of racially inspired hatred should not go unpunished simply because time has elapsed."

In 1994, Beckwith was convicted of the murder; he had been tried twice in 1964, but both times all-white juries failed to convict him even though the evidence linking him to the murder was overwhelming.

In 1973 police stopped Beckwith's car outside New Orleans, Louisiana. While searching the vehicle, authorities found a time bomb, firearms, white supremacist propaganda, and a map marking directions to the home of ADL's then-Regional Director in New Orleans, A.I. ("B") Botnick. When asked by police of any prior criminal activities, Beckwith replied that he shot Medgar Evers.

"Byron de la Beckwith's conviction," said Foxman, "provides an opportunity both to celebrate Medgar Evers' legacy and to assess the strides Mississippi and the nation have made towards securing civil rights for all citizens."

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.