On this day, June 7, in 1998, James Byrd Jr. was dragged to death by three white men in Jasper, Texas, in a racially motivated hate crime.
Shawn Berry, 23, Lawrence Brewer, 31, and John King, 23, stripped Byrd naked, beat him and chained him by his ankles to a pickup truck. The men dragged Byrd for three miles, and the next morning body parts were found scattered along the desolate road.
Near the spot where Byrd was dumped, authorities found a wrench with Berry’s name and a lighter inscribed with “Possum,” King’s prison nickname.
Brewer and King were known white supremacists. King had several tattoos: a black man hanging from a tree, Nazi symbols, the words “Aryan Pride.” Brewer had previously joined a white power gang while in prison.
All three men were convicted of Byrd’s murder. Brewer and King received the death penalty, while Berry was sentenced to life in prison.
