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Conviction June 7, 1998 Homicide

James Byrd Jr.

Status Conviction
Type Homicide
Date June 7, 1998
Location Jasper, Texas
Victim Age 49
Gender Male

James Byrd Jr., a Black man, was chained to a pickup truck and dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas by three white supremacists. John William King and Lawrence Russell Brewer were executed; Shawn Berry received a life sentence. The brutal hate crime led to the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act.

homicide hate crime Texas conviction civil rights racial violence