The Lynching of James Byrd Jr — Talk Murder With Me

Please be aware that this article includes descriptions of the lynching of a black man by white supremacists, and does involve details of the murder itself. There are also quotes from the perpetrators that include racial slurs. I feel these details, while deeply upsetting, are important in helping readers gain a deeper understanding of the depravity of the crime. I also believe that whitewashing a story like this one does a great disservice to the victim and his legacy. Now more than ever, it’s vital that we do not forget what happened to him.

One

We’re often told that the pain resulting from the death of a loved one heals with time; that suffering lessens as days turn to weeks, weeks to months, and months to years. Humans are resilient and find ways to cope, even in the most trying of times.

However, for those who have lost someone to a particularly violent, evil crime, the reality can be very different.

Not only do they have to contend with their own grief and despair, they are often thrust into the position of being a voice for their loved one who was so cruelly ripped away from them.

This has been the reality for James Byrd Jr.’s children for the past 24 years. Renee, Ross and Jamie continue to grieve their father to this day. But they are also determined that with the passage of time, the world does not forget what happened to him.

It was in 1998 that James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old black man, was the victim of one the most brutal acts of racial violence in modern American history.

The killing grabbed the attention of national and international press, and led to an expansion of hate crime laws in the United States. Three defendants were tried and convicted; two were sentenced to death and have since been executed, and the other is serving a life sentence in prison.

But what does justice actually look like in a crime so heinous? Personally I can't say. But I can do my best to tell James's story - the story of a father, son, brother and friend who was killed solely for the color of his skin.

Jasper, Texas

Nestled in the sub-region of East Texas known as Deep East Texas, Jasper is home to just under 7000 people today. Culturally, the region of East Texas has more in common with the states that form the Deep South (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia) than it does with the rest of Texas.

The region of East Texas is characterized by the thick pine forests, known as the Piney Woods. Texans sometimes describe the divide between East Texas and the rest of the state as the “Pine Curtain”. Passing through the Pine Curtain from the west leads one to a place that feels foreign in many ways. As Reddit user brenap13 put it:

It’s not just an urban vs rural difference; things feel older, people act different, people drive slower, accents are real.

Sign welcoming visitors to Jasper, Texas (source: Wikipedia)

While the United States as a whole continues to grapple with its legacy of racism to this day, the trauma is deeper in Jasper. Being notorious for one of the worst racially-motivated hate crimes the country had ever seen, in the year 1998, has caused permanent emotional damage to former and current citizens of Jasper, as well as lasting negative views of the town from those on the outside looking in.

James Byrd Jr

James Byrd Jr. was born May 2, 1949 to parents Stella Mae Sharp and James Byrd Sr. Stella Mae and James Sr had a total of nine children, James Jr being their third. The Byrds were devout Christians; James Sr was a deacon at the Greater New Bethel Church in Jasper, and Stella Mae was a Sunday school teacher.

James attended J. H. Rowe high school in Jasper, graduating in 1967. Despite segregation of public schools being declared unconstitutional in 1954 by the Supreme Court in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education, it was not until 1968, the year after James graduated, that schools in Jasper were finally integrated.

James married in 1970 and would go on to have three children, Renee, Ross and Jamie. I could not find the name of his wife. The couple divorced in 1993.

James worked on and off as a vacuum salesman, but was on disability due to an arm injury. In the mid-90’s, he spent time in prison for petty crimes including theft, forgery and parole violation.

A familiar face in Jasper, James was popular and well-liked. He was a talented musician, skilled in both the piano and trumpet. Unable to drive due to a seizure disorder, James walked everywhere he went. Jasper residents recalled often seeing him strolling around town, usually singing to himself as he went.

June 7, 1998

As people left church that Sunday, the horrifying news quickly began to spread around town. The body of a black man had been discovered in front of an African-American church on Huff Creek Road. His underwear and pants were down around his ankles. His head and right arm were missing.

Jasper County Sheriff Billy Rowles and his men responded to the scene. They began following a trail of blood west along the road. After about a mile and a half, they discovered the man’s head and arm in a ditch on the side of the road, next to the edge of a concrete culvert.

The blood trail led them into the woods and onto a narrow logging path. Along the path, they found the dead man’s shoes, ripped shirt, keys and dentures. They also found a wallet, inside of which they discovered a photo ID belonging to James Byrd Jr.

They continued walking, eventually coming to a clearing. They were now about 3 miles from the church where the body had been found. From the looks of it, there had been a fight of some sort in the clearing; the grass was squashed down and clumps of dirt were strewn around.

Various objects were scattered on the ground: several cigarette butts, a cigarette lighter engraved with the words "PoSSum" and "KKK", a wrench with "Berry" written on it, a woman's watch, a can of black spray paint and beer bottles. A baseball cap was also found, which they later found out belonged to James.

What Happened to James Byrd Jr?

By afternoon on June 7, practically everyone in town knew who the victim was and what had happened to him. Steven Scott, a friend of James's, went to the sheriff's office that evening with what he knew.

The previous evening, June 6, James had been at a party, where he was seen by many friends and acquaintances. He left around 2AM on the 7th. Scott, who had also been at the party, saw James walking home around 2:30AM. Minutes later, Scott saw him again, this time riding in the back of an old gray pickup truck with three white men up front.

Scott's information, along with the items they found at the clearing that morning (specifically the wrench with the name "Berry" written on it), easily led Sheriff Rowles and his deputies to 23-year-old Jasper local Shawn Berry.

On the evening of the 8th, they stopped Berry as he was leaving Twin Cinema (his place of work) in his old gray pickup. A quick look inside the truck revealed a tool set which was missing a wrench. Berry was arrested and taken to the sheriff's office for questioning.

This is the story of James Byrd Jr's murder, according to Berry:

Berry and his roommates, 23-year-old John William King and 31-year-old Lawrence Brewer, had been out cruising in Berry's truck and drinking beer on the night of 6th. Early on the morning of the 7th, they saw James, walking home alone. Shawn Berry had seen him around town before but didn't know his name. Berry slowed the truck and asked if he wanted a ride. James agreed and got in the bed of the truck.

King, an avowed white supremacist, began berating Berry for giving a ride to a black man. Berry continued driving for a short while, before pulling into a gas station. It was here that King took over driving. They pulled off the highway, continuing onto a logging road and eventually ended up at a clearing in the woods. Berry did not mention whether James asked where they were going.

At the clearing, all four men got out of the truck. King and Brewer began punching and kicking Byrd. Brewer sprayed his face with black spray paint. Berry told the police that he ran back along the logging path, telling the others he wanted no part in the attack.

He did not make it far, however, before he heard the truck behind him. King pulled up next to him and told him to get in. James was no longer in the truck. Berry asked King if they were going to just leave him in the clearing.

"We're starting The Turner Diaries early," King replied - referring to the 1978 novel by neo-Nazi William Luther Pierce (who wrote the book under the pseudonym Andrew MacDonald) about a race war taking place in the United States, ultimately resulting in the extermination of all non-whites.

A section of Huff Creek Road, where James Byrd Jr was dragged by his killers for 3 miles (source: Las Vegas Review-Journal)

King turned onto Huff Creek Road and began driving faster. Brewer looked over his shoulder, leaned over to the other two and said quote, “that n***** is bouncing around everywhere”. It was at that point that Berry realized that James had been bound by his ankles with a tow chain and was being dragged behind the truck. Berry asked that King pull over and let him out.

According to Berry, King scoffed at him and said: “You’re just as guilty as we are. Besides, the same thing could happen to a n***** lover”.

After driving for three miles, they pulled over on Huff Creek Road, where King got out of the truck and unchained the body. At some point while they were driving, the man’s head had come off, Berry added.

It was outside of an African American church that they left the headless, mutilated body.

They then went back to their apartment and slept.

Two

On top of Berry's confession, the police uncovered a wealth of physical evidence that implicated the three men. This included:

Blood spatter under the truck and on one of the truck's tires was tested for DNA which came back as a match to James Byrd.

Tire casts taken at the clearing and in front of the church on Huff Creek Road matched the tires on Berry's truck.

There were rust markings in the truck bed in the shape of a logging chain, but the chain itself was absent. Tommy Faulk, a friend of the three men, would later testify at King’s trial that they often came over to play paintball in the woods behind his trailer. During the investigation, the police searched the woods, coming upon a pile of sticks and plywood covering a large hole. In the hole, they found a 24-foot logging chain. The chain, which was 24-feet long and rusty, matched the rust markings in the bed of Berry’s truck.

Shawn Berry’s truck from which James Byrd Jr was dragged (source: KXAN Austin)

In the apartment that Berry, King and Brewer shared, the police seized clothing and shoes belonging to each man. They also took King’s writings and drawings.

The boots and jeans Berry had been wearing the night James was murdered had blood stains on them. The stains were tested for DNA, and came back as a match to James. Blood stains detected on John King’s Rugged Outback sandals and Lawrence Brewer’s Nike sneakers also came back as a match to James.

Cigarette butts discovered at the clearing and on the logging road were also tested. Each of the men were found to be major contributors to the DNA detected on the butts.

Who Were the Perpetrators?

I’ll mostly be focusing on John William King here as he is generally considered the ringleader in the murder. I couldn’t find much information about the early lives of Shawn Berry and Lawrence Brewer.

John William King (source: Catholic Mobilizing Network)

Ronald King, King’s father, was shocked and saddened by what his son had become. He and his wife (who died in 1991) had adopted King when he was an infant, and raised him in Jasper along with their two daughters.

King was 23 at the time of the murder. Those who knew him growing up remembered him as a normal kid. It was in the summer of 1992, before his senior year of high school, that he began getting into trouble with the law.

He was first arrested for burglary and given probation. After being involved in a second burglary, this time with his high school friend, Shawn Berry, the two were sent to a correctional boot camp for several months.

Shawn Berry (source: Beaumont Enterprise)

King did not stay out of trouble for long. In July 1995, at 20 years old, he was sentenced to 8 years in prison (I believe on further burglary charges and parole violations). He was sent to the George Beto Unit, a men's maximum security prison in Anderson County, Texas, more than two hours northwest of Jasper.

King's cellmate was Lawrence Russell Brewer, of Sulphur Springs, Texas. Brewer, who despite being just 28-years-old, was no stranger to the Texas correctional system. Brewer's rap sheet included arrests for burglary, possession and dealing of cocaine and parole violations.

Racial tensions tend to run high in prisons, and the Beto Unit was no exception. King claimed that soon after he arrived, he was gang-raped by a group of black inmates.

Lawrence Russell Brewer (source: Beaumont Enterprise)

King and Brewer became fast friends in the Beto Unit, mainly bonding over their shared hatred of blacks. They both joined a small group of white inmates which formed the Confederate Knights of America (a North-Carolina based arm of the KKK) within the prison. King rose to the rank of "exalted Cyclops".

While in prison, King also converted from Baptist to Odinism. Odinism is a form of modern Paganism named after the Norse god Odin. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Odinism is quote, “appealing to white supremacists because it mythologizes the virtues of early northern European whites”.

King was paroled in July 1997, serving just 2 years of his 8 year sentence. The 2 years in prison proved to be more than enough to mold the 22-year-old into a full-on, unapologetic white supremacist. Lawrence Brewer was paroled in September the same year, and moved into the apartment in Jasper where King lived with Shawn Berry.

King’s tattoos were menacing reminders of just how far his hatred went. They included (but were not limited to) a black man with a noose around his neck hanging from a tree, a fiendish-looking woodpecker in a Klan costume, and a crest with a Confederate flag and a burning cross inside. The crest had a lightning bolt "S" on each side, representing the symbol of the Nazi Schutzstaffel and the words "Aryan Pride" underneath.

At the time of the murder, King worked as a packer at a local grocery store. Shortly after the murder, Vicky Armstrong, a black Jasper resident, told Lianne Hart, a reporter with the Los Angeles Times, that she had exchanged pleasantries with King on multiple occasions while he was working. He was always nice to her, she said. She never realized that he harbored such deep and vicious hatred for blacks.

Jasper in the Spotlight

After the murder, much to the displeasure of townsfolk, reporters from across the nation descended on Jasper, grilling people with a mixture of fascination and horror.

Members of the Ku Klux Klan and New Black Panthers also arrived ready for conflict, which was really the last thing people wanted.

“This is Klan country, has been Klan country and will be Klan country from now on!” proclaimed a fully-robed Klansman at a rally in the center of town.

Jasper was a quiet community of 7,600 where residents valued their peace. Much of the town’s population was older. While they recognized that what happened in their city was an atrocity, they didn’t want to see Jasper burn.

James’s sister, Clara Byrd Taylor, said:

“We didn’t want James’ death to lead to more violence. That wasn’t our goal. Just let the judicial system do what needs to be done.”

Mylinda Byrd Washington, another of James’s sisters, said: “We don’t want this to turn into a big racial problem. My parents have to live here. I know it was a terrible injustice, but we have a lot of confidence in the Jasper Police Department and the FBI.”

To the relief of the Byrd family and the community as a whole, the violence people feared never came to be. In particular, religious leaders and the newly elected mayor of Jasper, R. C. Horn, played an important role in keeping the peace.

Mayor R. C. Horn, the first black mayor of Jasper, who was elected shortly before James Byrd Jr’s murder (source: Facebook)

Reverend Rodney Norsworthy, of the Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church, said of Mayor Horn:

"When the James Byrd incident occurred, the city of Jasper was sitting on a powder keg. The Black Panthers were here. The Ku Klux Klan was here. Any spark from any one of those groups could have ignited racial war here. Mayor Horn kept the city together."

In 1998, blacks and whites in Jasper did live largely separate lives - most blacks lived on the east side of the city, while whites were scattered across the north, south and west. The city was roughly 45% black and 55% white. As of 2020, Jasper is about 45% black and 38% white, while other races (mainly Latinos) make up the remaining percent of the population.

The consensus about the extent to which racism existed in Jasper at the time of the murder differed between individuals. Many whites (but obviously not all) denied that they lived in a racist town.

This could be illustrated by the fact that many elected officials and community leaders in Jasper were black. This included the mayor, two councilmen, several school board members and law enforcement officials.

Rev. Kenneth Lyons (who is black) of the Greater New Bethel Baptist Church in Jasper where the Byrd family attended, who also delivered the eulogy at James's funeral, spoke to the Beaumont Enterprise 13 years after the murder. He was adamant that Jasper was not the racist, backward place the news coverage made it out to be.

Lyons said of reporters: "They came looking for a group of hick people without any education. Black people without any education, but they couldn't find it. I think they were disappointed.”

He added: "They were looking for white-folk-hatin' black folk and black-folk-hatin' white folk - they were looking for it to be deep, but it wasn't like that."

The Byrd murder impacted the entire community, not just blacks, Lyons explained. No one was trying to place blame on the other race for what happened.

However, there was undeniable division between whites and blacks in Jasper in 1998, regardless of what Rev. Lyons said. Probably the most striking example of this was the fact that the city cemetery was still segregated. Even in death, an old, rusting fence separated the graves of black residents from white residents.

The fence was taken down shortly after James Byrd’s murder to promote healing and unity in the community. However, the gesture fell somewhat flat. In 2012, after racial tensions flared in Jasper once again over the firing of the first black police chief, the issue of the cemetery came up once again in a New York Times article.

In reality, the cemetery remains segregated; white families own plots at the top of the hill and blacks (including James Byrd Jr and his parents) at the bottom of the hill. The cemetery is not city-owned and a board of directors, made up of old white people, makes all the decisions surrounding it.

Members of the board, such as Albert K. Snell, a white Jasper resident who died in 2018 at age 85, agreed to speak to The Times regarding the cemetery. It was clear that individuals like Mr Snell had little interest in bringing Jasper out of the dark ages. Snell said quote:

“It’s our custom, here in the South, here in Jasper. We have the same cemetery, but we don’t mix the white and the black graves. They’re separate. Put a black up here? No, no, we wouldn’t do that. That would be against our custom, against our way of doing things.”

(Bear in mind he said this in *2012*)

Mac Horn, a 53-year-old white truck driver who had lived in Jasper his entire life, told Lianne Hart for her 1998 LA Times article: “Whites tolerate the blacks, but no one goes out of their way for them. Interracial couples, man, they don’t fit in around here. Blacks sort of stick to themselves, and whites stick to themselves.”

Hilda Kellum, a 50-year-old white Jasper resident, said regarding the killing: “There’s never been a racial problem here before. There’s gonna be one now.”

When Sheriff Rowles said during a press conference that there was no Aryan Nation or KKK in Jasper County, many black Jasperites who were there expressed their exasperation with hoots and scoffs.

Gwendolyn Chisholm, a black Jasper resident, said regarding racism in the city: “I think that it has always been more prevalent than anyone wanted to admit.”

Three

Trials and Sentences

John William King

King pleaded not guilty to the murder of James Byrd Jr. On January 25, 1999, jury selection began for his trial. While the population of the city of Jasper was close to equally divided between blacks and whites, the population of blacks in Jasper County was much lower, at about 18%. The jury was selected from Jasper County and was formed of eleven whites and just one black, who would served as the jury foreman.

For many in Jasper, the trial felt like little more than a formality. It was hard to come across anyone who did not have a strong opinion about the case, given its gruesome nature and the national (and international) news coverage it received. A white Jasper resident told a journalist from The Guardian:

"They should just do to them what they did to that poor black man. Either that, or they should segregate the prison and throw the three white boys in with the black side and let them deal with them."

King’s trial began on February 16, 1999. Prosecuting the case was District Attorney Guy James Gray, who told the jury in his opening statement that the physical evidence collected in the investigation, as well as the clear, unadulterated racism expressed by King in various forms, would lead the jury to conclude that he was guilty of James Byrd Jr’s murder.

King’s attorney, public defender Haden “Sonny” Cribbs, did not make an opening statement. In fact, Cribbs asked to be taken off the case due to King refusing to speak to him or follow any of his advice. King was not interested in engaging with his counsel on any level, and attempted to fire him because he felt he was, in King’s words “in disagreement of my innocence”.

King said that Cribbs quote, "intends to do no more for my defense than try to ensure that I do not receive the death sentence." King was actually correct about this - his defense had set their sights on the penalty phase, hoping to avoid their client receiving the death penalty, which he would be eligible for if convicted of capital murder. Capital murder is murder carried out in the course of committing another crime (in this case kidnapping).

“Logical Reasoning”

King wrote a letter to the Dallas Morning News, which he titled “Logical Reasoning”, with the aim of telling what he called “his side of the story”. He placed all the blame for the murder on Shawn Berry, and attempted to explain away why his belongings were discovered on the logging road and in the clearing where the victim was beaten.

In the letter, King wrote that he, Brewer and Berry had been out drinking that evening while driving around in Berry’s truck. Berry, who King said was a habitual drug user (particularly steroids), saw Byrd out walking early that morning and recognized him as someone he had met while he was incarcerated. Byrd supplied Berry with steroids, King said, which he was running low on. Berry picked Byrd up in the truck and asked that King and Brewer sit in the bed of the truck so Byrd could ride up front with him. King and Brewer agreed, as long as Berry promised to drive them back to their apartment, which Berry agreed to. Once they arrived, Brewer and King got out of the truck and went inside, while Berry and Byrd drove off in the truck, in search of drugs for Berry.

The items of King’s that were discovered at the scene were a watch that belonged to his girlfriend and the cigarette lighter with “PoSSum” and “KKK,” engraved on it; “Possum” had been King’s nickname in prison. He wrote in his letter that he and Brewer had been borrowing Berry’s truck for a land clearing job, and they kept his girlfriend’s watch in the truck to keep track of the time. He added that he had misplaced the lighter the previous week. The items must have fallen out of the truck during a struggle between Berry and Byrd, he wrote.

King, who unsurprisingly saw himself as a perpetual victim, also wrote to the Jasper NewsBoy, the local Jasper County newspaper, complaining that he was being discriminated against by residents of Jasper, the DA and the judicial system as a whole because of his religion (Odinism) and the fact he was an ex-convict with what he called “mildly offensive skin art” (drawings of swastikas and black men being lynched)

The Prosecution’s Case

Much to the relief of the community, the state did lay out a powerful case against King, which would not have always been the case in a small southern town where a white person murdered a black person. The absence of justice was something blacks, particularly in the south, had understandably come to expect from the judicial system.

To highlight King’s racism and affiliation with white supremacist groups, the prosecution entered the KKK lighter into evidence, as well as 22 pages of writings by King, which detailed bylaws for the "Confederate Knights of America Texas Rebel Soldiers", a group King planned to start as an offshoot of The Confederate Knights of America, which he was a member of in prison.

Gray emphasized the sheer barbarism and violence of Byrd’s death at the hands of King and his friends. Byrd, Gray told the jury, was still alive for nearly half of the hellish journey, according to the forensic pathologist's report.

The report described how he had probably been trying to hold his head up as he was dragged, shown by the lack of injuries to his skull and brain. In order to relieve the pain of the asphalt on his skin, he had likely been trying to reposition his body by rolling from side to side, shown by the shapes and patterns of his wounds.

The most incriminating piece of evidence implicating King, aside from the victim’s blood on his shoe, was a note he had written to Lawrence Brewer from jail, part of which was entered into evidence during trial. It read:

“As far as the clothes I had on, I don't think any blood was on my pants or sweatshirt, but I think my sandals may have had some dark brown substance on the bottom of them.
Seriously, though, Bro, regardless of the outcome of this, we have made history and shall die proudly remembered if need be․ Much Aryan love, respect, and honor, my brother in arms․ Possum.”

William Hoover, an inmate at the Beto Unit at the same time as King, testified for prosecution that King spoke of committing a racially motivated murder to gain notoriety for the white supremacist group he planned to start when he left prison.

“To help new recruits get initiated, take somebody out and kill them. You have to spill blood to get in and give blood to get out,” Hoover said as he described what King had told him.

King’s defense lasted just one hour, only including testimony from three individuals.

In the end, the jury took just two and a half hours to deliver their verdict. As was expected, on February 25, 1999, King was convicted of capital murder.

The Penalty Phase

John William King on the way to his sentencing (source: CNN)

During the penalty phase, King’s attorneys attempted to argue that King’s actions of chaining Byrd to a pickup truck and dragging him for three miles did not meet the definition of kidnapping under the law. The jury, however, dismissed the argument - the prosecution outlined the definition of kidnapping, and what King did clearly fell under this definition.

Here is the definition of kidnapping as defined by the Texas penal code:

“A person commits kidnapping “if he intentionally or knowingly abducts another person.” Under the Penal Code, “abduct” has two alternate meanings, one of which is “to restrain a person with intent to prevent his liberation by using or threatening to use deadly force.” “Restrain” means to restrict a person's movements without consent, so as to interfere substantially with the person's liberty, by moving them from one place to another or by confining them. Restraint is ‘without consent’ if it is accomplished by force, intimidation, or deception.”

Source: KING v. STATE (2000)

King was asked by a reporter as he left the courtroom if he had anything to say to the Byrd family.

“Suck my dick,” he snarled as he was led away.

Reactions to the Verdict

King was the first white man in the state of Texas to be sentenced to death for killing a black man.

The overwhelming reaction in Jasper to King’s sentencing and conviction was relief - from both blacks and whites. Townsfolk came together outside the courtroom to hear the verdict be announced. When they heard, many clapped and cheered.

"I hate to say people were happy, but they were," said Jasper Chamber of Commerce president Diane Domenech. She continued: "I feel like we stood together, black and white, and everyone's just as happy as the next one at what happened."

The most striking display of unity was a moment between the Byrd family and Ronald King, King’s father. King, who suffered from emphysema, attended the court proceedings in his wheelchair, carrying an oxygen tank. At sentencing, the elder King emotionally pleaded for his son’s life to be spared.

After taking the stand, he approached the Byrd family in the courtroom, expressing to them how sorry he was. Each of the Byrd women embraced him, telling him that they did not blame him for what happened and that they were praying for him.

"It hurts me deeply, that a boy I raised and considered to be the most loved boy I knew could find it in himself to take a life,” Ronald King wrote in an apology to the Byrd family.

Lawrence Brewer

Brewer’s trial began on September 13, 1999. The prosecution, once again led by Guy James Gray, referred to Brewer as a “racist psychopath”. A psychologist testified that Brewer did not show any remorse for the murder.

Brewer took the stand at his trial, weakly attempting to shift the blame away from himself, saying he did not mean to kill anyone. But the prosecution had already entered into evidence jailhouse letters Brewer had written in which he admitted to killing Byrd, and would do it again:

“I did it,” he wrote. “And no longer am I a virgin. It was a rush and I’m still licking my lips for more.”

On September 24 1999, Brewer was sentenced to death. The prosecution posed the following questions to the jury at his hearing:

Would Brewer be a threat to society in the future?
Did he mean to kill Byrd?
Were there mitigating factors that would warrant sparing his life?

The jury answered all of the questions unanimously - yes, yes and no, respectively.

Shawn Berry

Shawn Berry went to trial on Oct 24, 1999. The prosecution at his trial argued that while Berry was not a white supremacist, he was still just as culpable as the other men for Byrd’s killing. They suggested that Berry may be a thrill killer.

Berry stuck to his story that Brewer and King were solely responsible, and that he had tried to stop them from killing Byrd, but they threatened to do the same to him. Berry was the only one of the three men to show any remorse for the murder.

Berry was found guilty of murder, and on November 18, was sentenced to life in prison. He will be eligible for parole for the first time in 2038, when he is 63 years old.

King’s Appeals

King appealed his sentence multiple times over the years. His last round of appeals was rejected by the U.S. Supreme in October 2018. His main argument throughout his appeals was that his counsel in his original trial were ineffective, failing to argue for his innocence, despite his insistence that he was not guilty.

His appeals team argued that this entitled King to a new trial, after SCOTUS ruled in favor of death row defendant Robert McCoy in McCoy v. Louisiana (2018). In this case, the court held that the Sixth Amendment guarantees the right of the defendant to decide that the objective of his defense should be to maintain his innocence at all costs, even when his defense counsel believes that the best way for him to avoid the death penalty is to admit his guilt.

You can read more here about why the courts viewed King’s case as different from McCoy’s and therefore rejected his appeals. If you’re interested in reading more about the McCoy case, there is a good summary here.

After the rejection by the high court, his execution date was set for April 24, 2019.

Right up until the end, King continued to fight his execution. He appealed to the Texas Board of Paroles and Pardons for a commutation of his sentence and a 120-day reprieve of his execution, both of which the parole board voted unanimously against.

On the day he was due in the death chamber, King appealed once more to the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of his execution. This last-minute application was once again rejected.

Executions

More than two decades after he was sentenced to death, King was finally executed on April 24, 2019. Several of Byrd’s family members attended, including Clara Byrd Taylor, one of his sisters. She said of the execution:

“It’s a very emotional time for all of us, having to go back and relive it all. But it’s a necessary pain. It’s necessary for us to follow through.”

She added that she was also attending the execution for her mother, Stella Byrd, who died in 2010.

When asked by the prison warden if he had any final words, King replied that he did not. He kept his eyes closed from the time he lay down on the gurney to when he was injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital. He died 12 minutes later.

Lawrence Brewer was executed on September 21, 2011. Renee Mullins, James’s daughter, told CNN that she did not feel that justice would be done by executing Brewer. For one, she does not believe in the death penalty. Two, she resented that her father experienced such pain and cruelty in death, but Brewer would face no such thing.

“He was just given some drugs in his arm and went to sleep,” she said. “My father wasn’t given that option. He was brutally tortured until he was dismembered.”

She would rather have had him spend the rest of his life in prison.

The day before he was executed, Brewer said to KHOU News in Houston: “As far as any regrets, no, I have no regrets. I’d do it all over again, to tell you the truth.”

No More Last Meals

In a last minute move of what I can only describe as a total moment of fuckery, Lawrence Brewer participated in the tradition of requesting a last meal before he was executed. This is what he ordered:

two chicken-fried steaks smothered in gravy with sliced onions
triple-meat bacon cheeseburger with fixings on the side
cheese omelet with ground beef, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and jalapenos
large bowl of fried okra with ketchup
one pound of barbecue with half a loaf of white bread
three fajitas with fixings
one pint of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream
Meat Lovers pizza with three root beers
a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed pecans.

Equally screwed up is that he was actually served the food, which he subsequently refused to eat because he was “not hungry”.

This fiasco resulted in the end of the close-to-90-year tradition in Texas of death row inmates requesting last meals. They are now served the same as the rest of the prison population before they are taken to the death chamber.

Since the Murder

"This was 23 years ago, but it still seems like yesterday," Ross Byrd remarked during a 2021 segment for the BBC focused on race in America.

Ross Byrd shows a photo of his father during a BBC News segment in 2021 (source: BBC)

Ross was enrolled in the US military at the time of his father’s murder. After his father’s gruesome and violent death at the hands of white supremacists, he expressed his inner conflict about continuing his military service:

“I was fighting for a country that killed my old man…it was hard for me to remain in the service after that.”

Jamie Byrd, the youngest of James’s children, was just 16 when her father was murdered. In 2020, she spoke to ABC13 in Houston about how she coped with her feelings of rage and sadness over time. She told the news station that when it first happened, she wanted the three men to be dragged behind a truck like her dad had been.

“I did not forgive those three individuals for a very, very long time. Actually, just recently, I found in my heart to forgive them, and it was more so for myself and for my peace of mind.”

Jamie Byrd, James Byrd Jr’s youngest daughter, is now a police officer in Houston, Texas (source: BBC)

Jamie is now a police officer in Houston. Her father’s murder played a vital role in her decision to pursue a career in law enforcement. Instead of allowing her anger to control her life, she chose to channel her hurt and pain into purpose.

The murder of George Floyd by a white police officer in 2020 reminded her that she is exactly where she needs to be in terms of her life and career. She uses her position in law enforcement to speak out against police brutality whenever she can, and has marched in a number of protests in support of black lives.

She still finds it difficult to return to Jasper, even after more than two decades.

Moving On While Continuing to Remember

Sheriff Rowles, who led the investigation into the murder, but has since retired, has spoken of how what happened permanently changed Jasper. In 2011, the murder came back into the spotlight around the execution of Lawrence Brewer. Rowles said to the Beaumont Enterprise:

"It put a scar right from here to here on Jasper, Texas," Rowles said, his arms stretched wide. "The wound healed up, but there's still a little scar there, still some scar tissue.”

For the Byrd family, the most important thing is that people not forget what happened, because forgetting runs the risk of history repeating itself.

"People fear but don't communicate,” said Louvon Harris, James’s sister. "Once you stop talking about it, hate will come up at any time. We don't want another person to have to go through what we went through as a family."

A year after James was murdered, the Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing was established. James’s sister, Louvon Harris, serves as the board president of the foundation. The foundation’s main goal is to prevent racially motivated hate crimes through education, particularly on the subjects of cultural diversity and history. The foundation hosts events to promote its activities, and raises money for diversity training and scholarships.

On June 7, 2018, the 20th anniversary of the murder, the Byrd family gathered at the Jasper County Courthouse to dedicate a bench in James’s honor. The bench is engraved with the words: “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Hate Crimes Legislation

James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act (2001)

In 2001, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act, strengthening penalties for crimes motivated by a victim’s race, religion, sex, disability or sexual orientation. The signing came as somewhat of a surprise to the Byrd family, who were unsure if it would pass, given Perry’s refusal to voice his opinion on it up to that point.

George W. Bush, who left the governorship for the White House in 2001, had refused to support the bill when it was first brought to the floor of the state house, saying that “all crimes are hate crimes”. His statement earned him criticism during his run for the presidency.

The bill signing was attended by Texas lawmakers who had pushed for the bill’s passage and by James’s parents, Stella and James Byrd Sr.

“You’ve endured unimaginable pain that no Texan should have to endure. I hope you can find some peace in knowing that his death was not in vain,” Perry said to them.

Louvon Harris praised the governor for signing the bill:

“We’re so overjoyed and grateful at this point. I have no words to describe how we feel at this point,” she said during a radio interview.

Stella Byrd died in October 2010 aged 85. James Byrd Sr died ten years later, in September 2020 at the age of 95.

In life, Stella often reflected on the importance of her faith in coping with her grief and helping her rise above feelings of hate and self-pity. At an event for the James Byrd Center for Racial Healing in 2008, she said:

"I depend on God. If it wasn't for him, I'd be in self-pity and hate mode. You have to forget self-pity. As long as you hate, you will always feel bad."

The Byrds played an important role in the passage of the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act. Stella called the signing of the bill: "the best Mother's Day gift that I've ever received.”

Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (2009)

In October 2009, President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expanded the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim’s gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

President Barack Obama meets Louvon Harris (left), Betty Byrd Boatner (right) both sisters of James Byrd Jr., and Judy Shepard (Matthew Shepard’s mother, center) at a signing event for the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (2009) (source: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

The other namesake for the bill, Matthew Shepard, was a gay teenager who was brutally tortured and subsequently murdered by two men in Wyoming, also in 1998. It became clear during the investigation and trials of the perpetrators that Shepard was murdered because of his sexual orientation.

The bill also:

removed the prerequisite that a person who is victim to a crime on the basis of their race, color, religion, or national origin, must be engaged in a federally protected activity, like voting or going to school, in order for the crime to be classified as a hate crime.
Granted federal authorities the ability to engage in hate crimes investigations that local authorities choose not to investigate.
Provided $5 million dollars annually from 2010 to 2012 to help state and local agencies investigate and prosecute hate crimes.
Requires the FBI to track statistics on hate crimes based on gender and gender identity (statistics for the other groups were already tracked).

Desecration of Grave

At the signing of the 2001 hate crimes bill in Texas, Stella and James Byrd Sr spoke of how they visited the grave site each month. The purpose of these visits, however, were not only to remember their son, but also to remove any racist notes and placards that had been left there.

Stella and James Byrd Sr at the grave of their son in 1999 (source: ABC News)

In 2004, James’s grave was vandalized with racial slurs and profanities by two white teens. The headstone had also been pushed over. The teens were apprehended and charged with criminal mischief, as well as with several other unrelated criminal mischief and burglary charges.

While the old fence segregating the graves of whites from the graves of blacks came down shortly after Byrd's murder, a new fence was erected in response to the desecration of the grave.

The metal fence surrounds the grave on all sides. It serves as a painful reminder that even in death, James has not been granted the peace he deserves.

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