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| Dragging Victim's Son Fights For Life of Killer |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 07/05/2002 |
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The son of a black man dragged to death in 1998 by a white supremacist led a fast and prayer vigil to fight for the life of his father's killer. Ross Byrd's father, James Byrd Jr., was tied to the back of a pickup with a logging chain, dragged and dismembered along a bumpy country road in Jasper. White supremacist John W. King, who became the first of two white men sentenced to death for the 49-year-old Byrd's slaying, has almost exhausted his state appeals. Byrd's son, who initially favored the sentence, has since changed his mind. Joined by a handful of supporters and anti-death penalty advocates that included Martin Luther King III, the younger Byrd traveled to a Texas prison Wednesday to lead the fast and vigil. 'When I heard King had exhausted his appeals, I began thinking, 'How can this help me or solve my pain?' and I realized it couldn't,' Byrd said. Byrd said he now believes the death penalty is wrong in all cases. Allen Richard Ellis, King's appeals attorney, called the vigil 'a great example for all of us to live in a spirit of forgiveness instead of revenge.' Ellis said he plans to file a new appeal in King's case in mid-August. |
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