Shawn Allen Berry
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Shawn Allen Berry (born February 12, 1975) was an American white supremacist who, alongside fellow white supremacists Lawrence Russell Brewer and John William King, was one of the three perpetrators of the brutal lynching of African-American man James Byrd, Jr. on June 7, 1998 in Jasper, Texas.
Biography edit
Before the murder edit
Berry had been friends with both Brewer and King prior to the murder. He was the only member of the trio who hadn't been a former member of the Ku Klux Klan.
The murder edit
On June 7, 1998, Byrd, age 49, accepted a ride from Berry, Brewer and King. Berry, who was driving, was acquainted with Byrd from around town. Instead of taking Byrd home, the three men took Byrd to a remote county road out of town, beat him severely, spray-painted his face, urinated and defecated on him, and chained him by his ankles to their pickup truck before dragging him for about three miles (five kilometers).
Brewer later claimed that Byrd's throat had been slashed by Berry before he was dragged. However, forensic evidence suggests that Byrd had been attempting to keep his head up while being dragged, and an autopsy suggested that Byrd was alive during much of the dragging.
Byrd died about halfway along the route of his dragging, when his right arm and head were severed as his body hit a culvert. While almost all of Byrd's ribs were fractured, his brain and skull were found intact, further suggesting that he maintained consciousness while he was being dragged.
Berry, Brewer, and King dumped the mutilated remains of Byrd's body in front of an African-American church on Huff Creek Road, then drove off to a barbecue. A motorist found Byrd's decapitated remains the following morning. Along the area where Byrd was dragged, police found a wrench with "Berry" written on it. They also found a lighter that was inscribed with "Possum", which was King's prison nickname. The police found 81 places that included portions of Byrd's remains.
Since Brewer and King were well-known white supremacists, it was determined by state law enforcement officials that the murder was a hate crime. They called upon the Federal Bureau of Investigation less than 24 hours after the discovery of Byrd's remains. The special agent in charge of the FBI's Houston office said that they were assisting because of the case's "extreme circumstances".
Legal proceedings and aftermath edit
Berry, Brewer, and King were tried and convicted for Byrd's murder. Brewer and King received the death penalty, while Berry was sentenced to life in prison.
As of 2020, Berry is living in protective custody at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Ramsey Unit, and will be first eligible for parole when he is 63 years old in June 2038. He spends 23 hours per day in an 8-by-6-foot cell, with one hour for exercise.
Legacy edit
The murder of Byrd later became one of the inspirations (alongside the killing of Matthew Shepard) for implementation of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which was signed into law by then-President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009.