New trial for white supremacist? Defense claims retrial in 30-year-old murder case would be unconstitutional

Article Abstract:

The Mississippi Supreme Court will decide if a retrial of Byron De La Beckwith can take place almost 25 years after charges that he murdered civil rights leader Medgar Evers were dropped. Press disclosure that the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission secretly aided the defense with jury selection in one of Beckwith's earlier trials led prosecutors to reopen the case. A mistrial was declared in Beckwith's first two trials. Some experts feel a third trial might constitute double jeopardy, and there is also a presumption of prejudice towards the defendant with a long delay between trials.

Hate crimes, Beckwith, Byron de la

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The murder case that unraveled; after almost six years behind bars, wrongly convicted man goes free

Article Abstract:

Walter McMillian was set free on Mar 2, 1993, after spending six years on death row for a murder he was not guilty of. An Alabama appeals court had by this time ruled that McMillian deserved a new trial because the prosecution had withheld favorable evidence and three prosecution witnesses had recanted. McMillian and his attorneys claim that the roots of this case lay in discrimination since the defendant, a black, was dating a white woman at the time he was arrested. His trial was also moved to a largely white county.

Analysis, Discrimination in criminal justice administration, Criminal justice discrimination

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The trial that failed; only a civil suit can hold a confessed murderer accountable

Article Abstract:

Russell Swart, former landlord of murder victim Julie Everson, confessed to her killing during the sentencing hearing of Keith Bullock, who was wrongfully accused of her murder. Swart had been acquitted of the murder and the double jeopardy doctrine prevents him from being tried again. Prosecutors had believed that Swart was guilty, but the evidence against Bullock was stronger.

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