Bobby DeLaughter

Robert Burt "Bobby" DeLaughter Sr. (born February 28, 1954 in Vicksburg, Mississippi) is an American Mississippi state prosecutor, judge, and author. He is notable for prosecuting and finally securing the conviction in 1994 of Byron De La Beckwith, charged with the murder of the civil rights leader Medgar Evers on June 12, 1963. Two earlier trials in Mississippi in 1964 had resulted in hung juries.

On March 28, 2008, DeLaughter was suspended from the bench indefinitely by the Mississippi Supreme Court due to allegations of bribery and judicial misconduct.

On February 12, 2009, DeLaughter pleaded not guilty to a five-count federal indictment; these charges were linked to the criminal investigation of disgraced tort attorney Richard Scruggs. On July 30, 2009, he pled guilty to one obstruction-of-justice charge.

On November 13, 2009, DeLaughter was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison by Judge Glen Davidson. In keeping with the recommendation of his plea agreement, Judge Davidson did not impose a financial penalty on DeLaughter due to his negative net worth. He was incarcerated in the federal prison at McCrearyand was released on April 13, 2011.

In 1996, the events surrounding the De La Beckwith trial were memorialized in the Rob Reiner film Ghosts of Mississippi. Alec Baldwin portrayed DeLaughter in the film.In 2001, DeLaughter published his book about the Evers prosecution, entitled Never Too Late: A Prosecutor’s Story of Justice in the Medgar Evers Trial.

During the summer of 1973, DeLaughter met Dixie Claire Townsend. They married on November 16, 1973. They had three children, Robert Burt "Bobby" DeLaughter Jr., Claire DeLaughter, and Drew DeLaughter. After seventeen years of marriage, they divorced on April 15, 1991.

He is currently married to Peggy Lloyd, a nurse.