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| Dragging
Death Trial Begins |
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Three
men charged in the dragging death of James Byrd
John Williams
King, left, is escorted into the Jasper County Courthouse in
Jasper, Texas. Jury selection continues today in the capital
murder trial of King, who along with two other men is accused in
the dragging death of James Byrd Jr. (Pat Sullivan/AP Photo)
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ABCNEWS.com
Jan. 25
—Seven months after the brutal dragging death of a black
man in Jasper, Texas, shocked the nation, jury selection began today in
the capital murder trial of the first suspect, a 24-year-old ex-convict.
Residents of this small East Texas timber town,
just two hours away from Houston, are still trying to deal with the crime
that has branded the community a hotbed of racism, and a rallying ground
for white supremacists like the Ku Klux Klan and militant black activists
like the New Black Panthers.
Jasper
is a community of nearly 8,000 people in the eastern part of
Texas, near the Louisiana border.
Some believe the trial of John William “Bill” King for the death of
James Byrd Jr. will reopen a past that many have been trying to erase.
“We’re going through this trial with faith
and trust in the justice system, without any revenge in our hearts,
praying that justice will prevail,” said Pastor Kenneth O. Lyons of the
Greater New Bethel Baptist Church, where services for Byrd — who sang in
the church choir as a youngster — were held in June.
“Jasper is a peaceful place, and how we have
reacted has helped a great deal in calming the climate of our city, state
and America,” said Lyons. “We’re hoping that nothing bad will
happen.”
Second Capital Murder
Trial Ever
King, who authorities say has ties to a racist prison gang, wore a
bulletproof vest as he was escorted by deputies into Jasper County
Courthouse.
He is charged with murder in the killing of Byrd,
49, who was savagely beaten, then shackled by his ankles to the back of a
pickup and dragged to death on June 7. Byrd’s torn right arm, head and
torso were recovered along a twisting, 2-mile stretch on a narrow country
road.
Police say King and two other white men —
Lawrence Russell Brewer, 31, and Shawn Allen Berry, 23 — targeted Byrd
simply because he was black.
If convicted, King could be sentenced to life in
prison — or death, if the jury decides he intended to both kidnap and
kill Byrd.
His attorney, C. Haden Cribbs, and District
Attorney Guy James Gray have declined to discuss their strategies for the
trial — the second capital murder case in Jasper County, and the first
since 1992.
However, Guy said many people have told him they
were reluctant to serve because of the case’s high profile.
“People are afraid of serving on a big case
like this with a lot of attention,” Guy said Sunday.
Trials for Brewer and Berry are expected to be
scheduled after King’s case is concluded.
Restoring Faith in the
Community
About half of the 400 county residents randomly selected for jury
selection showed up — the pool was reduced to 122 people, 21 of them
black. The process is expected to last three weeks before 12 jurors and
two alternates will be selected.
While King has maintained his innocence, his
father has apologized publicly to Byrd’s family.
“The son I knew and raised,” said Ronald King
earlier this month, “what I’m hearing now doesn’t sound like my
son.”
Meanwhile, this town of nearly 8,000 residents is
trying to restore faith in its community.
Last week, an iron fence that separated black and
white graves for more than 160 years — including Byrd’s — was taken
down in an effort to bridge racial divides.
“This community is pulling itself back
together,” said David Douglas, assistant city manager and member of the
Mayor’s Task Force 2000, which was set up after the slaying to help ease
racial tensions.
“The healing process has worked.” 
Possible
Federal Hate Crime Charges
Authorities are
still considering federal hate crime charges against the three
men. If convicted on federal charges, they could face up to 10
years in prison or life imprisonment.
Byrd’s case, along with the recent
slaying of gay Wyoming college student Matthew Shepard, have
sparked interest in reintroducing the Hate Crimes Prevention Act,
a Senate bill that would make it easier to prosecute bias crimes
and expand federal law to include attacks based on gender,
disability or sexual orientation.
Both President Clinton and Attorney
General Janet Reno support passage of the bill, which was
sponsored by Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., Arlen Specter, R-Pa.,
and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
“Federal resources are being devoted to
the local level, and we will continue to assist them as we did
earlier in the investigation,” said Christine DiBartolo of the
Department of Justice. “It is certainly something that we have
supported for quite a long time.” |
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Third Race Crime Reported
Louisiana Man Attacked and
Taunted by Racial Epithets
June 14
— In the third car-dragging crime reported in a
week, a Louisiana black man has told authorities he
was dragged alongside a car by three white men who
taunted him with racial epithets, police said Sunday.
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The incident follows a nationwide furor over
the death of a black man dragged behind a pickup truck in Jasper, Texas,
and a possible copycat crime in Belleville, Illinois.
Louisiana
Man Escaped Attackers
Cornelius
Weaver, of Slidell, La., told police that he was dragged by two
white men in a car for about 2 1/2 blocks early Saturday.
(AP Photo)
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In Louisiana, Cornelius Weaver, 23, was treated at a local hospital for
abrasions and bruises sustained when he reportedly rolled away from the
car after slipping free from his attackers early Saturday morning, St.
Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman James Hartman said.
“Based on what he’s telling us, I don’t
know what else you could call it except a hate crime,” Hartman said.
“But what was done to him is a crime, even if it isn’t a hate crime.
It’s certainly upsetting to us.”
Weaver told police he was walking to a
convenience store to use a pay phone about 3 A.M. Saturday when a gray
car with three white men inside drove slowly by and began shouting
racial epithets.
He said the two passengers reached out, each
grabbing an arm, and dragged him beside the car for about 2-1/2 blocks
before letting him go. They did not try to rob him. Weaver told police
he walked home and a friend drove him to the hospital.
Hartman said Weaver was unable to give deputies
details about the four-door compact car or the men, who were reported to
have short, dark hair.
He said residents of the heavily populated area
reported no disturbances Saturday morning, and the investigation was
continuing.
Hartman said the incident was isolated, adding:
“Hate crime is a rarity in St. Tammany Parish. We have no tolerance
for that type of thing.”
Not
the First Racial Crime
In the Illinois incident, a black teen-ager reported he was dragged
alongside a sport utility vehicle driven by three white youths yelling
racial slurs. Baron Manning, 17, was treated at a local hospital for
scrapes over much of his body and for an eye injury, and later released.
Manning told reporters that early Friday
morning three white youths called him over to their truck, grabbed him
by the collar, then drove away dragging him until his shirt tore and he
fell near the back wheel. They clawed at Manning’s eyes and yelled
racial slurs as they drove at high speeds.
A Belleville police spokesman said this is not
the first racially motivated crime in this city of about 42,000, but
it’s the worst ‘‘to this point in time, and hopefully
forever’’.
The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People has asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation to look
into the incident.
Funeral
Held for Texas Man
Belleville police said they are investigating whether this crime
mimicked the Jasper, Texas, murder of James Byrd. Three white men
allegedly beat Byrd, who was hitchhiking, then chained him to a pickup
truck and dragged him to his death.
Meanwhile, hundreds of ordinary people and
nationally-known figures joined the family of James Byrd Jr. for his
funeral Saturday in Jasper, Texas. Among the civil rights leaders who
attended Byrd’s funeral was Rev. Jesse Jackson. Ironically, the
funeral came in the same week that President Clinton’s National
Commission on Race marked its first anniversary.
Jackson suggested this morning on “This Week
With Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts” that the incident should
encourage the race commission to reach out to rural areas. “This would
be a good chance to go to a rural area and to engage rural America in
this dialogue,” he said. “I was impressed frankly to see white and
black men there.”
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