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Show ation & tate Page 3 February 24, 1999 Editor: Mike Sherwood jeromeinfowest.com Texas Man Dragged To Death Behind Truck Tibune Media Services James Byrd Jr. squirmed and struggled, "alive and conscious" as a pickup dragged him shirtless more than two miles over an asphalt road, a pathologist said on Monday in testisome of the hardest-hittin- g mony of the John William King trial. Byrd, 49, did not die until his head,- shoulder and right arm were ripped from his torso when he was slammed into a concrete drain culvert, Dr. Tommy J. Brown told jurors in the capital murder trial of the first of three white defendants accused of killing Byrd. The torso was dropped near a small black church a mile away. "While being dragged, Mr. Byrd was conscious and in pain." Brown testified. Several of Byrd's relatives and King's father left the courtroom to - avoid hearing the gruesome evidence. Tire Beaumont pathologist's testimony was crucial to the capital murder case against King by showing that Byrd was killed June 7 during the commission of another felony - kidnapping. This required the prosecution to establish the victim was being restrained before he was killed. The other two defenShawn dants, Berry and Lawrence Russell Brewer, will be tried later. Through testimony and evidence, District Attorney Guy James Gray attempted to show that the trio, while sipping beer and smoking cigarettes, beat Byrd, sprayed his face black with paint, removed his shirt and pulled his pants down to his ankles, which were then shackled to a pickup bumper with a logging chain. Gray contended that King had hoped to reap notoriety from a black man's sensational kidnap-slayin- g to jump start a hate group he planned to formally launch on July 4, 1998, in the small East Texas timber town. Brown's graphic testimony went unchallenged by defense attorneys, who later began their case without an opening statement and rested after presenting just three witnesses. After closing arguments Tuesday morning, jurors will be sequestered until they reach a verdict. District Judge Joe Bob Golden said. If the 11 whites and one black find King guilty, the punishment phase of the trial will begin, to determine if he would be sentenced to death or life in prison. "It is my opinion that Mr. Byrd was alive up until the point he hit the culvert," Brown said as jurors leafed through IS MATH PUZZLING YOU? ARE YOU BAFFLED IN BIOLOGY? ed. Various body parts, including knees, an elbow and ribs, were "ground down" to the bone, apparently as Byrd struggled to shift his body when pain became too great in one spot. Brown said. "He would have been very tired, very worn out, trying to keep the pain from being so severe," Brown said. The first defense witness was King's prison tattoo artist, John Moseley, who is serving a and a term for burglary and sexual assault. Moseley said the numerous Nazi and Ku Klux Klan symbols he etched on King's body were not racist and were meant to ar ar inmate look help the tough enough to protect himself in a cell block that was 75 percent African American. Otherwise, King would have had to fight, pay protection money or "do sexual favors for blacks," said Moseley. But the inmate's credibility was damaged when Assistant U.S. Attorney John Stevens, who is assisting local prosecutors, produced a letter from Moseley to King's girlfriend, Kylie Greeney. It indicated Moseley would go to great lengths to help King, and boasted that he had stopped another inmate from testifying for the prosecution through intimidation. From his attorneys' brief presentation, it appeared that King may have undermined his own defense through his prodigious writing, which was published in newspapers or intercepted by jailers. tah U U outhern niversity Advisory team can piece your transfer together. Elementary Education September Lutterman, advisor 3 will be on Dixie Colleges Campus From 9:30 AM - 3:00 PM on the following dates: Thur 4 March Tue 6 April Psychology Dr. Steve Barney, advisor i will be on Dixie HELP IS HERE! 7C Take advantage of Dixies free tutoring services! We offer tutoring in all math courses, most biology courses, and many more subjects! Stop by the grisly autopsy photographs. The pathologist said reddish-brown areas of numerous wounds indicated they were incurred while Byrd's heart still pumped and blood still circulat- Colleges Campus From 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM on the following Fridays: February 26 March 12, 19, 26 April 9, 16, 23, 30 Business & Accounting Paula Alger, advisor will be on Dixie Colleges Campus From 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM on the following dates: Wed 3 March Mon 22 March Wed 21 April Academic Support Center (BRN 105) for more information. to schedule an appointment Please call 652-784- 2 with any of the SUU ACADEMIC ADVISERS. Students are requested to bring transcripts to meetings. |
