21 years ago James Byrd’s gruesome death shocked the nation and devastated his family. Byrd was viciously killed by John William King and two accomplices in Jasper, Texas in 1998., now tonight the ringleader in that murder to set to be executed.
Today Wednesday April 24, King, 44, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection in a Texas state prison.
King and his accomplices, Shawn Berry and Lawrence Brewer, encountered Byrd walking home after leaving a friend’s house in the early morning hours on June 7, 1998. Berry, who was driving, was familiar with Byrd from around town. He offered to drive Byrd home.
But instead of taking him home, the men took him to a secluded area on the outskirts of town. There they brutally beat him, and urinated and defecated on him before chaining him by the ankles to the back of their pickup truck.
They then dragged Byrd for nearly 3 miles along a paved road.
King and his accomplices are white. Byrd was Black. His death dominated the nation’s headlines for weeks and led to changes in the way local and federal governments prosecute hate crimes.
The details of Byrd’s murder are horrific and grueling but tonight we’re going to talk about it on “Conversations Of A Sistah“.
We hope you’ll join us in our studios at 6:30 p.m. EST…All links in the this post will access tonight’s podcast.
Hope to see you on the air but in the meantime sound off here!
Conversations Of A Sistah 