Texas executes ‘avowed racist’ behind brutal killing of James Byrd Jr
John William King’s lawyers tried to stop his execution, but the US supreme court rejected his last-minute appeal
An avowed racist who orchestrated one of the most gruesome hate crimes in US history was executed in Texas for the dragging death of a black man.
John William King, who was white, received lethal injection on Wednesday for the slaying nearly 21 years ago of James Byrd Jr, who was chained to the back of a truck and dragged for nearly three miles ( five kilometers) along a secluded road in the piney woods outside Jasper, Texas. The 49-year-old Byrd was alive for at least two miles (three kilometers) before his body was ripped to pieces in the early morning hours of 7 June 1998.