White supremacist Lawrence Russell Brewer executed for dragging death

By: Crimesider Staff
Topics: Daily Blotter

Lawrence Russell Brewer is led from the Jasper County courthouse, April 28, 1999, following a change of venue hearing in his capital murder trial for the 1998 dragging death of James Byrd Jr., in Jasper, Texas.

/ AP Photo

(CBS/AP) HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Lawrence Russell Brewer, a white supremacist gang member, was executed Wednesday evening for the infamous dragging death of a black man.

James Byrd Jr., 49, was chained to the back of a pickup truck and pulled whip-like to his death along a bumpy asphalt road in one of the most grisly hate crime murders in recent Texas history.

Brewer, 44, was asked if he had any final words, to which he replied: "No. I have no final statement." A single tear hung on the edge of his right eye.

He was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m., 10 minutes after the lethal drugs began flowing into his arms, both covered with intricate black tattoos.

Brewer's parents and two of Byrd's sisters were in attendance.

Appeals to the courts for Brewer were exhausted and no last-day attempts to save his life were filed.

Besides Brewer, John William King, now 36, also was convicted of capital murder and sent to death row for Byrd's death. A third man, Shawn Berry, 36, received a life prison term.

It was about 2:30 a.m. on a Sunday, June 7, 1998, when witnesses saw Byrd walking on a road not far from his home in Jasper, northeast of Houston.

Testimony showed the three men and Byrd drove out into the county and stopped along an isolated logging road. A fight broke out and the outnumbered Byrd was tied to the truck bumper with a 24-foot logging chain. Three miles later, what was left of his remains was dumped between a black church and cemetery where the pavement ended on the remote road.

Brewer, King and Berry were in custody by the end of the next day.

King was tried first, in Jasper. Brewer's trial was moved 150 miles away to Bryan. Berry was tried back in Jasper.

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by guyfrompa46 September 26, 2011 2:01 PM EDT: Well it's good to see there are no protesters on this one. I just wish this POS could have sufferfed a little more.; Reply to this comment


by rainbowroosie September 23, 2011 3:42 PM EDT: Another strong argument for why we NEED capital punishment. This makes the world a slightly better place. Line up the rest of the vermin and let's do them too.; Reply to this comment

by DenverBroncofan September 22, 2011 4:03 PM EDT

There was a similar story like this when a woman was tiid with a rope to the back of a car an dragged for a few miles. She actually died at the hospital. This and burned to death are hidious. All three of these POS's should have been put to death the same way

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by ahendryx819 September 22, 2011 4:58 PM EDT: Dare I say it, but we're in agreement.

by ahendryx819 September 22, 2011 2:59 PM EDT

Good Riddance. POS.

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by xraeddie September 24, 2011 5:14 PM EDT: You said it perfectly! Now,if we could only take all the other ignorant racists and put them in one big bonfire,I'd be really happy!