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White supremacist to be executed for dragging black man to death behind truck

It is believed James Byrd was still alive for two miles before body ripped to pieces

Chiara Giordano
Wednesday 24 April 2019 20:02 BST
Town reflects on dragging death before execution

A white supremacist convicted of killing a 49-year-old black man by dragging him along a road behind his truck is set to be executed.

John William “Bill” King, 44, was put on death row for kidnapping and killing James Byrd while he hitchhiked in Jasper, Texas, on 7 June 1998.

Along with Shawn Berry and Lawrence Brewer, King was convicted of chaining Mr Byrd to the back of their 1982 grey Ford pickup truck and dragging him along a road for three miles before dumping his body in front of an African-American church.

It is believed the father-of-three was still alive for at least two miles before his body was ripped to pieces.

Prosecutors said he was targeted because he was black.

According to authorities, King is openly racist and has offensive tattoos, including one of a black man with a noose around his neck hanging from a tree.

A “KKK” (Ku Klux Klan) engraved lighter was among the evidence police found at the scene, court documents showed.

King was scheduled to die by lethal injection at Huntsville death chamber in Texas at 6pm (11pm GMT) on Wednesday.

According to CNN, jail officials obtained a letter King wrote to Brewer after they were convicted which said: “Regardless of the outcome of this, we have made history.”

“Death before dishonor. Sieg Heil!” the letter continued, using a Nazi salute.

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King has always maintained his innocence, saying that he left the two other men before Byrd was killed.

His lawyers filed an appeal to the US Supreme Court after a Texas appeals court denied a request to halt the execution on Monday.

Berry and Brewer were also convicted of murder.

Berry was sentenced to life in prison while Brewer, also a white supremacist, was sentenced to death.

Some of Mr Byrd’s family members have said they would have rather seen the men spend the rest of their lives in prison.

“You can’t fight murder with murder,” his son Ross Byrd said the night before Brewer’s execution in 2011.

King would be the third inmate in Texas and the United States to be executed in 2019, according to the Death Penalty Information Centre.

Additional reporting by agencies

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