June 23, 1963 - The FBI announced early today the arrest in Greenwood, Miss., of a white man in connection with the slaying of Medgar Evers, slain civil rights leader, in Jackson, Miss. An FBI spokesman said the man is 42-year-old Byron de la Beckwith (pictured being escorted by an FBI agent into the Jackson police station for arraignment). Mr. Beckwith was charged in a complaint by the FBI with violating the 1957 Civil Rights Act. The complaint charged him “and others unknown” with conspiring to injure, oppress, and intimidate Mr. Evers in the free exercise and enjoyment of rights and privileges secured to him by the Constitution of the United States. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover said that following his arraignment on the Federal charge, Mr. Beckwith “will be made available to Jackson Police Department authorities for questioning in the event they wish to consider filing local murder charges against him.” “All information developed by the FBI investigation is being turned over to the Jackson Police Department, and the full facilities of the FBI laboratories and identification division, including testimony of laboratory and fingerprint experts and FBI investigating agents, will be made available to them,” Mr. Hoover said.
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