John William King was executed in Texas on April 24, 2019, more than two decades after the murder of James Byrd Jr., a Black man whose killing became one of the most notorious hate crimes in modern American history. King, 44, was put to death by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit and pronounced dead at 7:08 p.m.
The case began in Jasper, Texas, on June 7, 1998, when Byrd, 49, accepted a ride from three white men: John William King, Lawrence Russell Brewer and Shawn Allen Berry. Prosecutors said Byrd was beaten, chained by his ankles to the back of a pickup truck, and dragged for nearly three miles along a rural road. His body was later left near a roadside, shocking the nation and exposing the brutality of racist violence in small-town America.
Investigators quickly treated the killing as a hate crime. Evidence presented at trial pointed to King’s white supremacist beliefs, including racist tattoos and prison writings. Prosecutors argued that King helped orchestrate the attack and that Byrd was targeted because he was Black. The murder became widely described as a modern-day lynching and forced national attention onto hate-crime laws and racial violence.
King was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. Brewer was also sentenced to death and executed in 2011, while Berry received a life sentence. For years, King pursued appeals, but his final request for a stay was rejected before the execution went forward.
When asked whether he had a final statement, King said, “No.” Officials later reported that he provided a written statement referring to capital punishment. Witnesses said he showed no remorse in the execution chamber, a point emphasized by Byrd’s family after the sentence was carried out.
Members of James Byrd Jr.’s family were present for the execution. His sister Clara Byrd Taylor said the punishment was just, but family members also made clear that King’s death by lethal injection could not compare to the terror and suffering Byrd endured during his murder.
Byrd’s killing had consequences beyond the courtroom. Texas later passed the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act in 2001, and his name was included in the federal Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act signed in 2009. King’s execution closed one legal chapter, but the case remains a lasting symbol of racial hatred, violence and the long fight to recognize hate crimes under American law.
