Texas executes John William King

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (KTRK) -- The man sentenced to death for one of the most gruesome murders in modern American history showed no remorse before his execution.

John William King was executed by the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville on Wednesday for the 1998 death of James Byrd Jr. in east Texas.

King was put on death row for chaining Byrd to the back of a truck and dragging his body for nearly three miles along a secluded road in the piney woods outside of Jasper.

Prison officials met with King on Wednesday, and they say he appeared calm.

"He didn't say much," Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson, Jeremy Desel, recalled. "His attitude seemed very calm and put together."

King had no supporters in the room while he was executed, but two of Byrd's sisters and his niece were present.

Over the past couple of days, King met with a chaplain, friends and other visitors. Visitors say he treated his execution day like any other day.

"He did appear to have slept at least some last night, a couple of hours," Desel said. "Then, did what many offenders tend to do, tidy up his cell in preparation for the rest of his day."

King received nearly 100 interview requests over the past six months, but officials say he turned them all down.

In his only television interview with ABC News in 2004, King maintained his innocence.

"Even if they say, 'Well, he might be innocent. He probably wasn't there. So what? Apathy. They don't care about white racists," King said. "Just because we're white racists, well, one less one. Kill them."

Three men were convicted for killing Byrd. Lawrence Russell Brewer was executed in 2011 and Shawn Allen Berry was sentenced to life in prison.

Source: abc13.com, Staff, April 24, 2019

John William King put to death as Texas executes another killer of James Byrd Jr.

(CNN) -- A man who helped carry out the dragging death of James Byrd Jr. -- one of the most horrific hate crimes in modern American history -- was executed by injection on Wednesday evening in a Texas prison.

John William King, 44, was one of three men convicted for the murder. He is the second person to die for the crime that made news around the world and helped inspire Congress to pass federal hate crime legislation.

King was put to death at 7:08 p.m. (8:08 p.m. ET) at Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville.

Dragged for nearly 3 miles

Byrd's acquaintances told police they'd seen Byrd, who was black, at a party the night of June 6, 1998, that he'd left around 2 a.m. and was later seen riding in the bed of a pickup with three white men in the cab.

Authorities said King, Lawrence Russell Brewer and Shawn Berry picked up Byrd and drove him to a secluded area where they beat him and spray-painted his face before tying a logging chain around his ankles and dragging him behind a pickup truck for almost 3 miles.

Brewer died by lethal injection in 2011. Berry was sentenced to life in prison and is eligible for parole in 2038.

Some of Byrd's relatives had objected to King's death sentence.

His sister, Betty Boatner, told CNN in 2011, after Brewer's execution, that she "forgave him 13 years ago." His son, Ross, joined protests decrying Brewer's execution, saying, "You can't fight murder with murder." Ross' sister, Renee Mullins, said after Brewer's execution that she preferred a life sentence for her dad's killer.

While most murders are brutal, the viciousness of Byrd's killing shocked the world. NBA star Dennis Rodman came forward to pay for Byrd's funeral. Filmmakers produced multiple documentaries.

Artists including Geto Boys, Drive-By Truckers and Will Smith referenced the violent saga in their songs. Maryland poet laureate Lucille Clifton penned an ode to Byrd.

Most importantly, the 49-year-old's slaying spurred Texas and Congress to push through hate crime legislation. The federal act is often associated with the killing of Matthew Shepard, a gay student beaten to death in Wyoming, but the full name of the law is the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

King had long maintained his innocence, once sending a letter to the Dallas Morning News that would later be used against him. He had said that the evidence presented in his case was circumstantial and that Berry was solely responsible for Byrd's death.

King has repeatedly appealed his guilty verdict, claiming ineffective assistance from his counsel, but a federal appeals court upheld his conviction last year, and the US Supreme Court declined to hear his case in October.

Though the motive was never specifically outlined, race was a theme in King's trial. Prosecutors presented evidence that King had been an "exalted cyclops" of the white supremacist Confederate Knights of America and regularly drew lynching scenes.

King was the third prisoner executed in Texas this year, after cop killer Robert Mitchell Jennings and triple murderer Billie Wayne Coble.

King becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas and the 561st overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982.

King becomes the 43rd condemned inmate to be put to death since Greg Abbott became Governor in 2015.

3 men were convicted for killing Byrd. Lawrence Russell Brewer was executed in 2011 and Shawn Allen Berry was sentenced to life in prison.

King becomes the 4th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1,494th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Source: CNN.com, Eliott C. McLaughlin and Steve Almasy, April 24, 2019

⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.

Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Kansas AG urges governor to deny clemency to 8 sentenced to death

TOPEKA — Attorney General Kris Kobach on Tuesday urged the governor to deny clemency to Kansas inmates who have been sentenced to death. Eight of nine people sentenced to death in Kansas formally filed clemency requests in May, according to a press release from the Attorney General’s Office. Kobach urged Gov. Laura Kelly to reject them.

Idaho will soon turn to firing squad executions. Police will pull the triggers

Trained members of Idaho law enforcement with demonstrated firearms proficiency are expected to fill slots for carrying out the death penalty by firing squad as the state prison system transitions to the controversial execution method next month. Six volunteers certified for no less than three years apiece through Peace Officer Standards and Training, or POST, will be recruited to ensure the Idaho Department of Correction is ready to comply with a state law that prioritizes shooting prisoners to death over lethal injection starting July 1. No one on the team may have faced disciplinary action over firearms, use of force, or related conduct over the prior year, according to new execution protocols the prison system released this week.

SCOTUS: Alabama can’t execute Jeffery Lee by nitrogen; Thursday execution called off

After a week of legal volleyball, Alabama death row inmate Jeffery Lee’s execution—scheduled for Thursday evening—was called off after federal courts called the state’s nitrogen gas execution method “likely unconstitutional.” The state took the fight to the U.S. Supreme Court, hoping Lee could still be put to death tonight. In an order issued at 8:10 p.m., the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that it would not lift a ban on Alabama executing Lee via nitrogen . In a short court order, the justices denied Alabama’s motion to go ahead with the execution. Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch would have granted the appeal and let the execution proceed, according to the order.

Alabama | Judge bars nitrogen gas execution, says method is unconstitutionally cruel

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- A federal judge on Tuesday permanently blocked Alabama from executing an inmate with nitrogen gas after declaring it violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment. U.S. District Judge Emily Marks issued the ruling hours after an appeals court reversed her initial finding that the method was constitutional. Marks permanently enjoined the state from executing Jeffrey Lee, 49, by nitrogen gas. He was scheduled to be executed Thursday. The decision, for now, blocks the use of the controversial new execution method that the state has championed since 2024, but the issue will likely end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

With nitrogen gas blocked, Alabama seeks to execute inmate by lethal injection

Jeffery Lee, who successfully challenged his scheduled Thursday execution by nitrogen gas, argued that execution by firing squad would be less painful. The Alabama Attorney General’s Office Friday sought to put an Alabama death row inmate to death by lethal injection a day after the U.S. Supreme Court rebuffed the state’s attempt to execute him by nitrogen gas. In a filing with the Alabama Supreme Court Friday afternoon, the state sought an expedited motion to set a new execution date for Jeffery Lee, 49. The state said that with a permanent injunction in place against nitrogen gas, the method by which the state intended to execute Lee on Thursday, it could execute him by lethal injection or the electric chair.

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a firsthand account of the final moments of Hamida Djandoubi, a convicted murderer executed by guillotine at Marseille’s Baumettes Prison on September 10, 1977. The record—dated September 9—was written by Monique Mabelly, a judge appointed by the state to witness the proceedings. Djandoubi’s execution would ultimately be the last carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. At the time, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing—who had publicly voiced his "deep aversion to the death penalty" prior to his election—rejected Djandoubi’s appeal for clemency. Choosing to let "justice take its course," the President allowed the execution to proceed, just as he had in two previous cases during his term: Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977. Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was execu...

New Mississippi billboard warns criminals: ‘Firing squad is legal’

DESOTO COUNTY, Miss. (WREG) — A billboard standing on Interstate 55 southbound as you cross the Tennessee state line and enter Mississippi from Memphis is sending a grim message to those coming into the state. DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton recently announced the new billboard campaign, which features the sign reading, “WELCOME TO MISSISSIPPI. WHERE THE FIRING SQUAD IS LEGAL. THINK TWICE.” It references Mississippi’s law permitting execution by firing squad under certain circumstances for inmates sentenced to death. Barton says this campaign is aimed at deterring violent crime and sends a direct message to criminals entering Mississippi.

US | Army lays groundwork for death row executions if Trump gives approval

The Army is preparing to carry out the executions of the military's four death-row inmates if ordered to do so by the president, according to an internal planning document reviewed by ABC News. If carried out, it would mark the first time the military executed convicted American inmates in more than a half-century The plan, dubbed "Operation Resolute Justice" and issued internally in February, directs Army officials to coordinate with the Federal Bureau of Prisons to transfer condemned prisoners from the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to the federal execution facility in Terre Haute, Indiana, where the Justice Department carried out a series of non-military federal executions during President Donald Trump's first term.

Texas | Tanner Horner now incarcerated at the Polunsky Unit

Convicted child killer Tanner Horner has now taken up residence in one of the most brutal death row prisons after being sentenced to die by a Texas jury last month. Horner is incarcerated at the Polunsky Unit, an infamously restrictive prison outside Houston where the state's death row inmates are housed in an all-solitary confinement wing and spend at least 22 hours a day in their 60-square-foot cells. The former FedEx deliveryman, 34, was booked at the notorious prison on May 5 within hours of being sentenced for the gruesome murder of Athena Strand, 7, whom he admitted strangling while delivering a Christmas gift to her home in November 2022.

Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch wanted an execution that a Trump judge deemed illegal

The Supreme Court these days is generally in the business of helping executions go forward. But on Thursday night, the court did something notable: It told Alabama no. Even then, the court wasn't unanimous. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented from the refusal to let the nitrogen gas execution of Jeffery Lee proceed. What prompted the rare rejection? In line with the typical shadow docket practice, the court didn't explain itself. Nor did the dissenters, who merely noted their disagreement. But a deeper look at the case helps us understand why a majority of the court was unwilling to help the state this time.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog