American Notes MISSISSIPPI

Civil rights advocates had given up hope that anyone would ever be punished for the murder of N.A.A.C.P. field secretary Medgar Evers, who was gunned down in Jackson, Miss., in 1963. Indicted in the killing was Byron de la Beckwith, a segregationist whose fingerprints were found on the murder weapon. But all- white juries twice failed to reach a verdict, and Beckwith went free.

Recent reports by Jackson's Clarion-Ledger show that the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, a now defunct agency created by the state to battle desegregation, may have interfered in the jury selection for Beckwith's second trial. The newspaper found evidence that commission members relayed information about prospective jurors to Beckwith's lawyer. Assistant District Attorney Bobby DeLaughter is pushing for a new indictment, but that will not be easy. Many witnesses have died, and the murder weapon is missing.