Free Republic

In Texas, three white men were tried and convicted of murder for the dragging death of a black man, James Byrd, Jr. in June of 1998. Two of the men, Bill King, 25, and Russell Brewer Jr., 32, who were the ones who actually killed Byrd, were sentenced to death. The third man, Shawn Berry, who owned the truck involved, had picked up James Byrd, walking 10 miles home from his job, as he often did for both white and black pedestrians. His action angered King, who sported racist tattoos. The indictment clearly showed that Berry was threatened with...