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FO-380 (Rev. $-8-81) . ; ' incieate Sage. fame Of KNOXVILLE NEWS: SENTINEL KNOXVILLE, Ty Beckwith =. oun Coctneshay 5 12/ posts bond, — i vows tofight uw. or -- Tee oe ll, (Sr ee ee _ Classification: Soe ete in extradition ~~ ge. rr" 8y Associated Press «. CHATTANOOGA — White suprema- cist Byron De La Beckwith was released on $15,000 bond Tuesday pending a Feb- ruary hearing on whether he should be returned to Mississippi to stand trial a third time for the 1963 Slaying of civil rights leader Medgar Evers. The 70-year-old Beckwith, who now lives on nearby Signal Mountain, was in- dicted on a murder charge again by a Hinds County, Miss., grand jury in the Evers case, District Attorney Ed Peters said Tuesday in Jackson, Miss. Appearing with his wife, Thelma, Beckwith told General Sessions Court Judge Horace L. Smith that he intended to fight any effort to extradite him to Mississippi. “I’m going to resist it tooth, nail and claw,” Beckwith said. “Because I think ithat all this is nonsense, poppycock and just something to stir the people up... d incite the lower forms of life to force . d violence against the country clubs.” . . 1 Beckwith was tried twice in 1964 in - ae mo he slaying of Evers, who was field sec- ee . . ° etary for the NAACP when he was illed by a sniper’s bullet in front of his ackson, Miss., home on June 12, 1963. Each trial ended in a deadlocked jury - d the murder charge was dismissed in 1969, but the case was eventually re- But the judge agreed with Beckwith's opened amid charges of jury and evi- court-appointed attorney, Russell Bean, dence tampering. , - who argued that the Beckwiths, who Assistant Hamilton County prosecu- tor Rodney Strong asked Smith to with- hold bond or at least set it higher on grounds that Beckwith posed a threat to others associated with the case. Strong, noting that Beckwith had a passport and had once made plans to vis- it a friend in Mexico, also expressed fears that the defendant might jump bond to avoid returning to Mississippi. have lived on Signal Mountain for seven years, did not appear to be a threat to flee. ., “I have no evidence he’s going to run or he’s apt to run,” said Smith. The judge ordered Beckwith to return to court on Feb. 22 for a hearing to con- sider whether he should be returned to: Mississippi on a warrant by Gov, Ray Mabus.