 Seven <unk> , including a deputy sheriff , were convicted in the federal <unk> in Meridian of " <unk> the victims of their civil rights " and three were acquitted in the Mississippi civil rights workers murders trial . It was the first time that a white jury had convicted " a white official in a civil rights killing . " In 2005 , the case was reopened by the state , which brought charges in the case for the first time . Edgar Ray <unk> was convicted of <unk> and sentenced to 60 years in prison . Meridian later honored <unk> by renaming a portion of 49th Avenue after him and holding an annual memorial service . 
