Murder of James Byrd, Jr.

James Byrd, Jr.
Born (1949-05-02)May 2, 1949
Beaumont, Texas, United States
Died June 7, 1998(1998-06-07) (aged 49)
Jasper, Texas, United States

James Byrd, Jr. (May 2, 1949 – June 7, 1998) was an African-American who was murdered by three men, of whom at least two were white supremacists, in Jasper, Texas, on June 7, 1998. Shawn Berry, Lawrence Russell Brewer, and John King dragged Byrd for three miles behind a pick-up truck along an asphalt road. Byrd, who remained conscious throughout most of the ordeal, was killed when his body hit the edge of a culvert, severing his right arm and head. The murderers drove on for another mile before dumping his torso in front of an African-American cemetery in Jasper.[1] Byrd's lynching-by-dragging gave impetus to passage of a Texas hate crimes law. It later led to the federal Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, commonly known as the Matthew Shepard Act, which passed on October 22, 2009, and which President Barack Obama signed into law on October 28, 2009.[2]

Lawrence Russell Brewer was executed by lethal injection for this crime by the state of Texas on September 21, 2011.[3] King remains on Texas' death row while appeals are pending,[4][5][6] while Berry was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Victim

James Byrd, Jr. was born in Beaumont, Texas, one of nine children, to Stella (1925 – October 7, 2010) and James Byrd Sr. (born 1924).[7]

Family

Ross Byrd, the only son of James Byrd, has been involved with Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation,[8] an organization that opposes capital punishment. He has campaigned to spare the lives of those who murdered his father and appears briefly in the documentary Deadline.[9][10]

Murder

On June 7, 1998, Byrd, age 49, accepted a ride from Shawn Berry (age 24), Lawrence Russell Brewer (age 31) and John King (age 23). Berry, who was driving, was acquainted with Byrd from around town. Instead of taking Byrd home, the three men took Byrd to a remote county road out of town, beat him severely, urinated on him and chained him by his ankles to their pickup truck before dragging him for approximately 1.5 miles. Brewer later claimed that Byrd's throat had been slashed by Berry before he was dragged. However, forensic evidence suggests that Byrd had been attempting to keep his head up while being dragged, and an autopsy suggested that Byrd was alive during much of the dragging. Byrd died after his right arm and head were severed when his body hit a culvert.[11] Byrd's brain and skull were found intact, further suggesting he maintained consciousness while being dragged.[12]

Berry, Brewer and King dumped the mutilated remains of the body in front of an African-American church on Huff Creek Road, then drove off to a barbecue. Along the area where Byrd was dragged, police found a wrench with "Berry" written on it. They also found a lighter that was inscribed with "Possum", which was King's prison nickname.[13] The following morning, Byrd's limbs were found scattered across a seldom-used road. The police found 81 places that were littered with Byrd's remains. State law enforcement officials, along with Jasper's District Attorney, determined that since Brewer and King were well-known white supremacists, the murder was a hate crime. They decided to call upon the Federal Bureau of Investigation less than 24 hours after the discovery of Byrd's remains.

King had several racist tattoos: a black man hanging from a tree, Nazi symbols, the words "Aryan Pride," and the patch for a gang of white supremacist inmates known as the Confederate Knights of America.[14] In a jailhouse letter to Brewer that was intercepted by jail officials, King expressed pride in the crime and said that he realized while committing the murder that he might have to die. "Regardless of the outcome of this, we have made history. Death before dishonor. Sieg Heil!" King wrote.[11] An officer investigating the case also testified that witnesses said that King had referenced The Turner Diaries after beating Byrd.[15]

Berry, Brewer and King were tried and convicted for Byrd's murder. Brewer and King received the death penalty, while Berry was sentenced to life in prison. Brewer was executed by lethal injection on September 21, 2011[3] while King remains on Texas' death row.[4][5][6]

Perpetrators

The perpetrators were held at the Allan B. Polunsky Unit

Shawn Allen Berry

Berry claimed that Brewer and King were entirely responsible for the crime. Brewer, however, testified that Berry had cut Byrd's throat before he was tied to the truck. The jury decided that there was little evidence to support this claim.[16] As a result, Berry was spared the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison. Berry, TDCJ#00894758, is currently held at the Ramsey Unit in Rosharon, Texas,[6] and his parole eligibility date is June 7, 2038.[17] As of 2003, Berry is in protective custody; he spends 23 hours per day in an 8-foot (2.4 m) by 6-foot (1.8 m) cell, with one hour for exercise. Berry married a woman named Christie Marcontell by proxy.[18] Marcontell was Berry's girlfriend at the time of the murder. The two have a child together.

Lawrence Russell Brewer

Brewer was a white supremacist who, prior to Byrd's murder, had served a prison sentence for drug possession and burglary. He was paroled in 1991. After violating his parole conditions in 1994, Brewer was returned to prison. According to his court testimony, he joined a white supremacist gang with King in prison in order to safeguard himself from other inmates.[19] Brewer and King became friends in the Beto Unit prison.[6] A psychiatrist testified that Brewer did not appear repentant for his crimes. Brewer was ultimately convicted and sentenced to death.[20] Brewer, TDCJ#999327,[21] was on death row at the Polunsky Unit.[6] Brewer was executed in the Huntsville Unit on September 21, 2011.[22] The day before his execution, Brewer expressed no remorse for his crime as he told KHOU 11 News in Houston: "As far as any regrets, no, I have no regrets. No, I'd do it all over again, to tell you the truth."[23]

Last meal

Before his execution Brewer ordered a large meal that included two chicken fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a large bowl of fried okra, a pound of barbecue, three fajitas, a meat lover's pizza, a pint of ice cream, and a slab of peanut butter fudge with lots of crushed peanuts. However he did not eat any of it and the meal was discarded, prompting Texas prison officials to end the 87-year-old tradition[24] of giving special last meals to condemned inmates.[25][26][27]

John William King

King was accused of beating Byrd with a bat and then dragging him behind a truck until he died. King had previously claimed that he had been gang-raped in prison by black inmates.[28] As a child he was diagnosed as manic-depressive. He was found guilty and sentenced to death for his role in Byrd's kidnapping and murder.[4] King, TDCJ#999295,[5] is on death row at the Polunsky Unit.[6]

Reactions to the murder

Numerous aspects of the Byrd murder echo lynching traditions. These include mutilation or decapitation and revelry, such as a barbecue or a picnic, either during or after a lynching. Byrd's murder was strongly condemned by Jesse Jackson and the Martin Luther King Center as an act of vicious racism[29] and focused national attention on the prevalence of white supremacist prison gangs.

The victim's family created the James Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing after his death. Basketball star Dennis Rodman paid their funeral expenses and gave Byrd's family $25,000. Fight promoter Don King gave Byrd's children $100,000 to be put towards their education expenses.[30]

In 1999 Chantal Akerman, inspired by the literary works of William Faulkner, set out to make a film about the beauty of the American South. However, after arriving on location (in Jasper, Texas) and learning of the brutal racist murder, she changed her focus. Akerman made Sud (French for "South"), a meditation on the events surrounding the crime and the history of racial violence in the United States. In 2003, a movie about the crime, titled Jasper, Texas, was produced and aired on Showtime. The same year, a documentary named Two Towns of Jasper, made by filmmakers Marco Williams and Whitney Dow, premiered on PBS's P.O.V. series.[31]

While at radio station WARW in Washington, D.C., DJ Doug Tracht (also known as "The Greaseman") made a derogatory comment referring to James Byrd after playing Lauryn Hill's song "Doo Wop (That Thing)".[32] The February 1999 incident proved catastrophic to Tracht's radio career, igniting protests from black and white listeners alike. He was quickly fired from WARW and lost his position as a volunteer deputy sheriff in Falls Church, Virginia.

In May 2004 two white men were arrested and charged with criminal mischief for desecrating James Byrd, Jr.'s grave with racial slurs and profanities.[33]

Impact on US politics

Some advocacy groups, such as the NAACP National Voter Fund, made an issue of this case during George W. Bush's presidential campaign in 2000. They accused Bush of implicit racism since, as governor of Texas, he opposed hate crime legislation. Also, citing a prior commitment, Bush could not appear at Byrd's funeral. Because two of the three murderers were sentenced to death and the third to life in prison (all charged with and convicted of capital murder, the highest felony level in Texas) Governor Bush maintained that "we don't need tougher laws". The 77th Texas Legislature passed the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act. With the signature of Governor Rick Perry, who inherited the balance of Bush's unexpired term, the act became Texas state law in 2001.[34] In 2009, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act expanded the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.[35]

Musical tributes

In 2001's CD "Pieces of Me" by singer/songwriter Lori McKenna, the song "Pink Sweater" speaks to Byrd's murderers, condemning their hate-filled act, and references their death penalty convictions with the raucous refrain, "I'll be the one in the pink sweater, dancing around when you're gone." In 2010, Alabama musician Matthew Mayfield penned, recorded, and released a song in Byrd's honor. The tune, titled "Still Alive," is the fourth track on Mayfield's EP You're Not Home. "Still Alive" clearly related a stark bitterness towards racism and equated such hate crimes to genocide. "Tell Me Why" by Will Smith featuring Mary J. Blige mentions Byrd on Will Smith's fourth album, Lost and Found. "The Ballad of James Byrd" is another tribute to Byrd, written and performed by Southern Californian musician Ross Durand. Houston rapper E.S.G. mentions Byrd on the song "Realest Rhyming" from his 1999 album Shinin' N' Grindin', stating "...let the Klu Klux know that I'mma blast ya/heard how ya done James Byrd down up in Jasper."

"The New Hell" by death metal band The Famine mentions Byrd on their album The Architects of Guilt (2011). "Jasper", by Confrontation Camp, is the fifth track on the album Objects in the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear (2000). "100 Miles" by Rollins Band is a b-side track from their album "Get Some Go Again." The song's lyrics are written in the first person about a vigilante who takes the lives of Byrd's killers (2000). "Guitar Drag" by sound artist Christian Marclay is a video- and sound-installation about the murder of James Byrd (2000). "I Heard 'Em Say" by Ryan Bingham is about Byrd's murder and the racially charged climate around Jasper following the crime (2012) “The Southern Thing” on the Drive-By Truckers’ album Southern Rock Opera mentions the incident, saying “Hate’s the only thing that my truck would want to drag”.

"Jasper, Texas" by Ron Orlando & The Mystery Train is about Byrd's murder. The band sent the single to Jasper radio station KJAS, which immediately banned it. [36]

References

  1. ↑ "3 whites indicted in dragging death of black man in Texas". CNN. 1998-07-06. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
  2. ↑ Obama signs hate-crimes law rooted in crimes of 1998 (USA TODAY, Oct 28, 2009)
  3. 1 2 White supremacist Lawrence Russell Brewer executed for dragging death (CBS News, September 22, 2011)
  4. 1 2 3 "King, John William." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on January 5, 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 "King John William". Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Archived from the original on 2011-06-11. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Keys, Perryn. "JASPER: THE ROAD BACK: Did prison time turn man into one of Byrd's killers?" Beaumont Enterprise. June 9, 2008. Retrieved on July 23, 2010.
  7. ↑ Mother of James Byrd Jr. dies (October 7, 2010)
  8. ↑ Murder Victim's Family for Reconciliation website
  9. ↑ Jeralyn. "Families of Murder Victims Opposed to Capital Punishment". The Politics of Crime. TalkLeft.com. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  10. ↑ Killing Time - Dan Rather interviews Renee and Ross Byrd
  11. 1 2 "Closing arguments today in Texas dragging-death trial," CNN, February 22, 1999.
  12. ↑ Robinson, Paul (2008). Criminal Law, Case Studies & Controversies. New York: Wolters Kluwer. p. 204.
  13. ↑ "Justice in Jasper" at the Wayback Machine (archived December 27, 2005), Texas Observer, September 17, 1999.
  14. ↑ "Texas sheriff 'knew somebody was murdered because he was black'," CNN, February 16, 1999.
  15. ↑ The officer's account of the initial stages of the investigation through an affidavit filed in Jasper County, Texas on June 9, 1998.
  16. ↑ "Texas NAACP". Archived from the original on April 30, 2007. Retrieved June 19, 2007.
  17. ↑ "Berry, Shawn Allen" (Archive). Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on December 28, 2015.
  18. ↑ King, Joyce. Hate Crime: The Story of a Dragging in Jasper, Texas. Random House, Inc., 2002. 207. Retrieved from Google Books on November 3, 2010. ISBN 0-375-42132-7, ISBN 978-0-375-42132-7.
  19. ↑ "Court TV Online". Retrieved June 19, 2007.
  20. ↑ "Brewer, Lawrence Russell." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on January 5, 2010.
  21. ↑ "Brewer, Lawrence Russell." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on August 25, 2010.
  22. ↑ Heather Nolan and Jessica Lipscomb (September 22, 2011). "Lawrence Russell Brewer executed in 1998 dragging death". Beaumont Enterprise. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  23. ↑ Troy Davis And Lawrence Brewer, A Tale Of Two Executions
  24. ↑ Last-meal requests off death row menu
  25. ↑ Last meal requests come to an end on Texas death row (San Antonio Express-News, September 23, 2011)
  26. ↑ Texas Death Row Kitchen Cooks Its Last ‘Last Meal’ (New York Times, September 22, 2011)
  27. ↑ Last meal: What's the point of this death row ritual?, Daniel Nasaw, BBC News Magazine, 26 September 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
  28. ↑ "Justice Fellowship". "Prison Rape - It's No Joke". Retrieved February 9, 2007.
  29. ↑ You Can Issue It, But Can You Take It When It Comes Back to You? by Maya Sanders, iUniverse, 2013, p.198
  30. ↑ Robinson, Paul (2008). Criminal Law, Case Studies & Controversies. New York: Wolters Kluwer. p. 1176. ISBN 978-0735550759.
  31. ↑ PBS.org
  32. ↑ "The Reliable Source" Annie Groer, Ann Gerhart. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: March 18, 1999. pg. C.03
  33. ↑ White teens charged in grave desecration (Houston Chronicle, May 12, 2004)
  34. ↑ "Texas governor signs into law hate-crimes bill". The Deseret News. Associated Press. May 11, 2001. p. A2.
  35. ↑ Obama Signs Defense Policy Bill That Includes 'Hate Crime' Legislation
  36. ↑ http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mysterytrain

Further reading

External links

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