People Magazine Investigates: What are the names of three white men who killed James Byrd Jr.?

James Byrd Jr.'s horrific 1998 murder shook the world as three white supremacists, namely John William King, Shawn Berry, and Lawrence Russell Brewer, murdered the 49-year-old black man, which was later concluded to be a hate crime. Till date, Bryde's murder is considered one of the most heinous crimes in American history.

After three trials that took place several years after the incident originally occurred, the three white men were convicted on the grounds of capital murder. Brewer and King were executed after being found guilty by jurors, and Berry was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of James Byrd Jr.

People Magazine Investigates will revisit the gut-wrenching murder story that shocked humanity to its core and led to a few revolutionary changes in Texas. The episode is scheduled to air on July 13, 2022. The official synopsis states:

"The murder of James Byrd, Jr. throws his family into turmoil as law enforcement investigates one of the most gruesome hate crimes in U.S. history."

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James Byrd Jr. was murdered in 1998

Berry, Brewer, and King had all served jail sentences for a number of charges as per their criminal records. Berry and King remained close friends after their time in high school and reportedly, King met Brewer while the two were serving time in jail.

Brewer had arrived in Jasper and had taken up residence in King's flat just a few weeks prior to Byrd's murder. The two allegedly had ties to white supremacist organizations in jail, filled their bodies with racial tattoos.

Clara Taylor, James Byrd Jr.'s sister, told Newsweek commenting on the justice the victim's family deserved, saying,

"I think because of the time we lived in, some were saying they'd never get a conviction of a white man for killing a black. Well, I knew by listening to the evidence and with everything going on there was no other verdict for them to come [to]."

Soon after John William King's conviction, Lawrence Russell Brewer was found guilty, followed by Shawn Allen Berry, in the same year, for the murder of James Byrd Jr.

In 2019, about two decades after the sentencing, King was executed for the capital murder of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, Texas, in the act of unimaginable racial hatred. The execution took place in the state's death chamber in Huntsville.

Taylor added:

"I thought it was truly amazing that in this state that they were able to find a guilty verdict because there was no sign of remorse in him whatsoever."

Shawn Allen Berry was given a life sentence for his involvement, while Lawrence Russell Brewer, one of the other men, was previously put to death in 2011.

King was considered the mastermind behind the tragedy and the first white man to receive capital punishment for the murder of a black person in Texas in modern times, although his execution came afterwards.

In the same interview, Guy James Gray, the former Jasper County district attorney who prosecuted King, said,

"This had never happened before. Never in the history of the state of Texas had a white man been given the death sentence for the murder of a black man. The old heads around said it couldn't be done."

Since then, Texas has issued a number of more death sentences, one of which was carried out in 2011, of Lawrence Russell Brewer as an accomplice in the hate crime against Byrd.

Shawn Allen Berry, the third accomplice, will not be eligible for release until 2038, thus making King's execution the state's last specific measure of justice for James Byrd Jr.'s death.

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Catch the gruesome hate crime murder of James Byrd Jr. on ID's People Magazine Investigates this Monday.