Lawrence Andrew Rainey Sr.,

79, the former county sheriff whose acquittal in the murders of three civil rights workers was chronicled in the movie Mississippi Burning, died Friday in Meridian, Miss. His wife said the cause was throat cancer.

Neshoba County sheriff from 1963 to 1967, Mr. Rainey was charged with civil rights violations for allegedly conspiring to kill James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner in 1964.

Their bodies were found buried in an earthen dam a few miles from the church; the men had been beaten and shot.

Seven Ku Klux Klansmen were convicted of federal civil rights violations. Mr. Rainey was acquitted.