Reuters, without permission
12-JUN-98
By Jeff Franks
JASPER, Texas (Reuters) - Three alleged white supremacists are likely to face
the death penalty in the murder of a black man whose head was torn off when he
was dragged behind a pickup truck, a prosecutor said Friday.
A grand jury that convenes in July will be asked to indict the men for capital
murder in the gruesome case, Jasper County Assistant District Attorney Pat
Hardy told Reuters.
``It looks like it will go capital murder, but we will wait to present it to grand
jury. The men are behind bars, and they are not going anywhere, so there's no
need to do it now,'' Hardy said in an interview.
The men have been jailed on a charge of murder, which carries a maximum
penalty of life in prison.
Capital murder can bring the death penalty but requires that a killing be
committed in conjunction with another crime, such as robbery or kidnapping.
Hardy said prosecutors, after reviewing case law, were confident they could
make the case that the three men kidnapped James Byrd, 49.
Byrd was hitchhiking home from a party when the men allegedly offered him a lift
in their truck. Instead of taking him home, they allegedly drove him to a remote
area, beat him, chained him by the ankles to the truck and dragged him two
miles down a country road.
The accused are Shawn Berry, 23, John King, 23, and Lawrence Brewer, 31.
All have been jailed without bond. On Friday they met for the first time with their
attorneys.
The defense for King, accused by Berry in a statement to police of instigating the
incident because of hatred for blacks, began taking shape when his new
attorney, Randy Walker, told reporters his client denied being with the other two
men during the killing.
Brewer's attorney, Bill Morian, simply said his client was ''very quiet'' and ``very
scared.''
``There's a very scared man sitting Jasper County Jail, and he's very worried
about the situation,'' he said.
Steve Hollis, attorney for Berry, told Reuters: ``He's extremely remorseful about
what happened. He's still shaken up.
``He seems like a good kid. He's lived here for years, and I think you will find
many people in this community, whether black or white, have a lot of nice things
to say about him,'' Hollis said of Berry. ``It's totally out of character for him to
be involved in anything like this.''
The attorneys either denied their clients were white supremacists or said they
had no indication they were.
King and Brewer were thought to have developed links to the Aryan
Brotherhood or other racist prison gangs while serving sentences in Texas after
burglary or, in Brewer's case, drug convictions.
Berry, who was on probation for burglary, first met King in high school in
Jasper.
The Ku Klux Klan, which has links to the Aryan Brotherhood, denounced the
murder Thursday but said it might hold a rally in Jasper. On Friday a group of
Black Muslims threatened retaliation.
``To the KKK and other white racist groups, we say, 'Hands off black people.'
We the Black Muslims have come here to defend and protect our people. ... If
you shoot, we will shoot back,'' Quanell X, head of the Houston-based Black
Muslim Movement, told reporters. He called for the death penalty for Byrd's
killers.
Byrd's sister, Carla Taylor, told reporters the Byrd family did not hate the
alleged killers and would accept whatever penalty that was imposed.
``Hate is not a word we use in our home. I don't hate them, I just want justice
done,'' she said.
Byrd's funeral was set for Saturday, after a wake Friday evening. Civil rights
activist Jesse Jackson was to speak at the funeral.