OXFORD(AP) — Bobby DeLaughter, who as a prosecutor and judge put thousands of people behind bars, was expected to report to prison Monday.

DeLaughter attracted worldwide attention as he pursued and won a case against Byron De La Beckwith for the 1963 assassination of Medgar Evers, field secretary for the Mississippi NAACP.

Beckwith, sentenced to life in prison, died in 2001.

On July 30, DeLaughter stepped down as a Hinds County circuit judge and pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in a corruption investigation involving multimillionaire and former lawyer Dickie Scruggs.

The Clarion Ledger reported Sunday that DeLaughter had requested to serve his 18-month sentence in federal prison in Pensacola or Montgomery so his wife, Peggy, could visit, but the Bureau of Prisons decided he would serve his time more than 600 miles away at the federal prison in McCreary, Ky.

DeLaughter admitted he lied to FBI agents when he said he had two conversations with Peters about a pending lawsuit against Scruggs, now serving seven years in prison on corruption charges.

Prosecutors said DeLaughter actually had dozens of conversations about the lawsuit with Peters, who was working for Scruggs.

Attorney Bob Wilson alleged in his lawsuit that Scruggs cheated him out of money and used it to fund a batch of landmark antitobacco lawsuits in the 1990s in which Scruggs reportedly earned as much as $848 million. Scruggs has since settled that litigation with Wilson.

Peters had been hired by the Scruggs team to influence DeLaughter and eventually was paid $1 million, according to prosecutors.

Peters, who has surrendered his law license, will serve no time because he received immunity in exchange for his cooperation, and authorities say he has returned what remained of the $1 million.

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Information from: The Clarion-Ledger, http://www.clarionledger.com