Bobby DeLaughter

Bobby DeLaughter was born February 28, 1954, in Vicksburg, Mississippi, but grew up in the state’s capital city of Jackson. He secured an undergraduate degree from Ole Miss in 1975 (majors in history and political science, minor in psychology), and graduated from the Ole Miss Law School in 1977. Over a career spanning three decades, DeLaughter was a criminal defense attorney, prosecutor, and trial judge.

As portrayed by acclaimed actor Alec Baldwin in Rob Reiner’s movie, “Ghosts of Mississippi,” Bobby DeLaughter was the assistant district attorney who re-prosecuted white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith for the 1963 assassination of Mississippi civil rights leader Medgar Evers. DeLaughter later authored a memoir about the re-investigation and trial, “Never Too Late: A Prosecutor’s Story of Justice in the Medgar Evers Murder Case” (Scribner 2001). His closing argument in the trial is one of only ten selected and featured in “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury: Greatest Closing Arguments in Modern Law,” edited by H. Caldwell et al (Scribner 1998); and his successful prosecution of the case is included in “Famous Trials: Cases That Made History,” by Frank McLynn (Reader’s Digest 1995). His career in law ended in 2009, with a federal conviction of obstruction of justice, for giving a false statement to FBI agents.

Bobby DeLaughter and his wife now live in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he has resumed writing. His debut novel, “Inside the Labyrinth: A Bo Landry Erotic Thriller,” is available exclusively from Amazon.