Texas executes avowed racist in black man's dragging death
Juan A. Lozano and Michael Graczyk, Associated Press Updated 7:35 pm CDT, Wednesday, April 24, 2019
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — An avowed racist who orchestrated one of the most gruesome hate crimes in U.S. history was executed Wednesday in Texas for the dragging death of a black man.
John William King, who was white, received lethal injection for the slaying nearly 21 years ago of James Byrd Jr., who was chained to the back of a truck and dragged for nearly 3 miles (5 kilometers) along a secluded road in the piney woods outside Jasper, Texas. The 49-year-old Byrd was alive for at least 2 miles (3 kilometers) before his body was ripped to pieces in the early morning hours of June 7, 1998.
Prosecutors said Byrd was targeted because he was black. King was openly racist and had offensive tattoos on his body, including one of a black man with a noose around his neck hanging from a tree, according to authorities.
King, 44, was put to death at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. He was the fourth inmate executed this year in the U.S. and the third in Texas, the nation's busiest capital punishment state.
More:
https://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/Convicted-ringleader-in-Texas-dragging-death-to-13790433.php#photo-17273747
You might want to scan the photos included in the article, which will cover the entire length of the trial, and the people involved, after James Byrd, Jr. was tormented, tortured, ripped apart, and murdered.
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Texas' guest of honor at today's execution.
The sisters of James Byrd, Jr.
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