Killer of James Byrd Jr executed in Texas

[Ulysses31]

Even though I'm opposed to the death panalty in principal I doubt the world will miss this guy very much

White supremacist executed for 1998 killing of black man tied to back of pick-up truck and dragged to death

* Hate crime killer given lethal injection today
* Victim was decapitated after vehicle slammed into ditch
* Accomplice on death row with case under appeal

A white supremacist who was sentenced to death for the murder of a black man in an horrific killing that echoed the atrocities of the lynching era was executed today.

Lawrence Russell Brewer, 44, was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection at 6pm CST for his part in the 1998 killing of James Byrd, Jr in East Texas.

Brewer was one of three men convicted of killing Byrd after they offered him a lift along a remote country road.

Death sentence: Lawrence Russell Brewer, pictured arriving at court in a bulletproof vest in 1999, was executed today


Byrd, 49, was beaten unconscious and urinated upon before being bound to the vehicle by his ankles with a heavy logging chain and driven for three miles.

Forensic evidence showed that he was alive for much of the ordeal but was killed when the vehicle hit a concrete drainage channel causing his head and arm to be ripped from his body.

Victim: James Byrd Jr died after being chained to the bumper of a pick-up truck by Brewer and two other white supremacists


John William King, 36, was also convicted of capital murder and sent to death row. His case remains under appeal.

The third man, Shawn Berry, 36, received a life prison term.

Final hours: Brewer was taken from his cell at the Polunsky Unit in Livingston, Texas, to an isolation cell in Huntsville, Texas, where the sentence was carried out


After dumping his remains in an African American cemetery his killers drove off to a barbeque.

In an interview from death row, Brewer told Beaumont television station KFDM that he participated in the assault on Byrd but had 'nothing to do with the killing as far as dragging him or driving the truck or anything.'

He told the station his execution would be a 'good out' and he's 'glad it's about to come to an end.'

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice said Brewer's family was allowed to see him one last time this morning.

He was then be taken from the Polunsky Unit in Livingston to an isolation cell in Huntsville where the sentence will be carried out.

Byrd's death led to the Federal October 22, 2009 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, commonly known as the 'Matthew Shepard Act'.

President Barack Obama signed the bill into law on October 28, 2009.

The brutal death put Jasper, a typical East Texas town with the obligatory Dairy Queen and Walmart and a handful of fast-food places some 60 miles from the nearest interstate highway, under a national spotlight.

'Everywhere you went, anywhere in the country, once people found out you were from Jasper, Texas, they wanted to ask you about it,' says Mike Lout, the mayor and owner of the town radio station.

'Everybody first was shocked and appalled and not proud of it. They talked about it so much in the days past it, I think most people wanted to put it out of their minds.'

'It's heartbreaking,' said Billy Rowles, who was sheriff at the time of Byrd's murder.

'A lot of effort and hard work and soul-searching went into trying to live down the stereotype. It's so easy to get back into that mode.'

A CRIME THAT SHOCKED AMERICA...

The horrific killing of James Byrd Jr is seen as one of America's worst racial crimes since the civil rights era.

The brutal nature of his death shocked the U.S. and was condemned by the then President Bill Clinton.

As the defendants had served time in prison, their arrests focused national attention on the prevalence of the white supremacist prison gangs to which they belonged.

Brewer's father claimed his son had joined the gang after being brutalised and abused by black inmates while incarcerated.

During the trial Brewer claimed that although he had been present on the night, he had not taken part in the killing and blamed the other two - John King and Shawn Berry, both 24 at the time. He told the jury he 'had no intention of killing nobody'.

In court he claimed King had started a fight with Mr Byrd, and that Mr Berry had slashed the victim across the throat before chaining him to the bumper of the pick-up truck.

Prosecutors said they believed Mr Byrd had been killed to promote Brewer and Berry's white supremacist organisation the Confederate Knights of America and to initiate Berry into the group.

Brewer admitted joining the group while serving time in a Texan prison with King.

Basketball star Dennis Rodman made a $25,000 donation to a fund started to support Byrd's family. He had previously offered to pay for the funeral.

The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act passed in 2009 expanded the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ecuted-1998-racist-killing.html#ixzz1Yf82oZJC

 

[Ace Boobtoucher]

Good riddance.

 

[Jon S.]

Should have had a black man execute him....would have been more than appropriate.....just sayin"! Yeah, I doubt that clown will be missed very much!

 

[PirateKing]

13 years later....

 

[Rane1071]

That was a fucking horrible crime. The bastard got off easy!!

 

[yes yes yes]

Even though I'm opposed to the death panalty in principal I doubt the world will miss this guy very much

:yesyes: :yesyes: :yesyes: :thumbsup:

 

[Ravenholm]

Sometimes just sometimes like on a MEGA RARE occassion the scum that deserve it do get what is coming to them. Commiting such an act goes beyond redemption in my eyes. It's one thing to beat someone to death in a fight. Which by the way is still fucked in it's own rights. But it's a whole different ball game when they piss all over the guy and drag the guy behind a vehicle for about 3 miles or so and his head ends up smashed in and his arm ripped off.

 

[georges]

he should be killed with a 500 magnum point blank range. It will cut his suffering immediately.

 

[mrtrebus]

What a world. We still kill people to demonstrate to everyone how wrong it is to kill people.

 

[Kingfisher]

13 years later....

Yeah, exactly!

 

[Mayhem]

I think he should have been locked in a cell, given small quantities of amphetemine (to keep him awake), while a big screen TV blasts out episodes of "Good Times" 24 hours a day.

 

[Jagger69]

An absolutely horrific crime by a soulless barbarian. Even still, neither the severity of the crime nor the continued insolence of the perpetrator is justification for the death penalty under any circumstances. The guy represented a continued threat to no one so his murder is strictly one of retribution. More blood on the hands of the state of Texas.

 

[Hot Mega]

An absolutely horrific crime by a soulless barbarian. Even still, neither the severity of the crime nor the continued insolence of the perpetrator is justification for the death penalty under any circumstances. The guy represented a continued threat to no one so his murder is strictly one of retribution. More blood on the hands of the state of Texas.

The act of executing him was carried out by a dispassionate 3rd party (theoretically). Not someone or thing with a vested interested in the emotional act tending to be the case with retribution. So it would seem a pretty large stretch to conclude that it represents retribution more so than appropriate, consistent, fitting level punishment IMO.

 

[mrtrebus]

The act of executing him was carried out by a dispassionate 3rd party (theoretically). Not someone or thing with a vested interested in the emotional act tending to be the case with retribution. So it would seem a pretty large stretch to conclude that it represents retribution more so than appropriate, consistent, fitting level punishment IMO.

Wrong. An eye for an eye is NOT justice it is simply revenge.

 

[Hot Mega]

Wrong. An eye for an eye is NOT justice it is simply revenge.

Pardon the pun:o but isn't that just in your eyes? In the eyes of others that is justice.

You wouldn't call it 'revenge' if you walked up to a hot dog stand and saw the price was 4 Euros for a hot dog then term the price 'revenge' for you making too much money would you? That's just what it costs.

By the logic you use, anything short of letting the person go free could be considered 'revenge' IMO. Why couldn't a sentence of 20 years just as easily be construed as 'revenge' too? (If you're just hung up on the semantics.:dunno

 

[Galactic]

Part of me wants to see something new implemented here...to be more precise, this shit stain should have been chained to a truck and driven for three miles, having HIS head and arm ripped off.

 

[Jagger69]

The act of executing him was carried out by a dispassionate 3rd party (theoretically). Not someone or thing with a vested interested in the emotional act tending to be the case with retribution. So it would seem a pretty large stretch to conclude that it represents retribution more so than appropriate, consistent, fitting level punishment IMO.

'Mega, you and I have gone to the mat on this before so I'm not about to get in another useless pissing match with you about it. If it somehow makes you feel disconnected and not responsible for the killing of another human being without any immediate cause then so be it. You're certainly not alone. However, I seem to recall a conversation we had where you admitted that you would be willing to personally administer the lethal drugs in order to kill a convicted murderer. If you could remain "dispassionate" about doing that, you have no soul from my perspective.

To me, the death penalty is inherently wrong and there's nothing "theoretical" about it. You don't kill others for no reason.

 

[CunningStunts]

'Mega, you and I have gone to the mat on this before so I'm not about to get in another useless pissing match with you about it. If it somehow makes you feel disconnected and not responsible for the killing of another human being without any immediate cause then so be it. You're certainly not alone. However, I seem to recall a conversation we had where you admitted that you would be willing to personally administer the lethal drugs in order to kill a convicted murderer. If you could remain "dispassionate" about doing that, you have no soul from my perspective.

To me, the death penalty is inherently wrong and there's nothing "theoretical" about it. You don't kill others for no reason.

I certainly respect your opinion on this issue J, but to me, if it's proven beyond a reasonable doubt, it's no different executing violent criminals (especially rapists and murderers) than putting down a rabid dog. :2 cents:

 

[Will E Worm]

Wrong. An eye for an eye is NOT justice it is simply revenge.

No, it is justice.

Deuteronomy 19:19-21 (KJV)
19: Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.

20: And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you.

21: And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

:flame:

 

[Hot Mega]

However, I seem to recall a conversation we had where you admitted that you would be willing to personally administer the lethal drugs in order to kill a convicted murderer. If you could remain "dispassionate" about doing that, you have no soul from my perspective.

FYI, it would be precisely because I have a soul that I could.:2 cents: You're just looking at the morality of the circumstance differently from me. If you don't agree nor understand that, fine:dunno:. But FTR, it's the people who could bring themselves to murder innocents who are the souless among us.

You seem to have such a problem with the idea of being 'dispassionate'. Listen, the act of taking a human life is quite sobering. However, in most cases when there is a necessity it ought to be dispassionate (believe it or not). There are just stark realities of the necessity in this world. Now if you're the type of person who simply has to be in the throes of engagement in order to take a life. I would say you're not one for military duty either. As there will be plenty of times that call will have to be made by you without actually being in the technical throes. I don't know if or how you draw a distinction from that but there is very little difference from the perspective (dispassionate).

I understand there are simply different perspectives out there. I had a friend who's wife proclaimed she couldn't even take a life if she was about to be killed herself. I don't understand that one either but that let's me know there are certainly complex perspectives out there.

A 'souless' being who would rob another innocent human of life in a most vile and depraved method has declared themselves an enemy of humans and if caught, fairly tried, duly convicted and condemned...that is just the cost for acting on the perspective that allows one to think that way.

There is NOTHING equal between a monster robbing (innocent) some person, family and friends of a life between ending a life of the monster who has declared war on the rest of humanity by firing the first salvo of murder. Sorry...that dog will just never hunt. When an enemy of what ever lot you're apart of opens with a salvo...your response ought to be to prevent them from doing it again, ever.

There is no moral superiority just because you think differently. I accept your belief but that's all it is, a different belief...not a superior morality.

To me, the death penalty is inherently wrong and there's nothing "theoretical" about it. You don't kill others for no reason.

I agree on the above 2 points!!! "To You' and You don't kill others for 'no reason'. That is the reason this bastard forfeited his right to live.:hatsoff: