A DEATH IN TEXAS A Story of Race, Murder, and a Small Town's Struggle for Redemption

Hardback. A vivid account of how a small Texas town faced up to its racist past in the wake of the brutal murder of James Byrd Jr. Before 1998 few Americans had ever heard of Jasper, Texas. That all changed on June 7, 1998, when a trio of young white men chained a 49yr old black man named James Byrd Jr. to the bumper of a truck and dragged him 3 miles down a country road. In the hours after Byrd's body was found in pieces on Huff Creek Road, Jasper's white community tried to believe that one of their own had not committed the crime. That hope was shattered when the trail of blood and evidence led directly to two local men, Bill King and Shawn Berry, and King's former jailhouse companion Russell Brewer. Within 24hrs, Sheriff Billy Rowles had obtained a confession and the trio were charged with capital murder. From the initial investigation through the trials and their aftermath, the author follows the turns of events through the eyes of Bill Rowles - an enlightened lawman determined to take lessons from the tragedy - and other townspeople trying to come to grips with the killing. Rowles kept local emotions in check as an onslaught of outsiders intent on sowing division - from the national media to hooded Klansmen and gun-toting Black Panthers - descended on this small lumber town in the Piney Woods of East Texas. Drawing on extensive interviews with key players, the author brings to life a cast of remarkable characters: the unrepentent baby-faced killer, Bill King; Jasper's white patriarch and former Jack Ruby defence attorney, Joe Tonahill; the hard- drinking James Byrd; the determined district attorney, Guy James Gray; and Sheriff Billy Rowles who held the town together. Not only the authoritative account of an infamous killing, but a provocative, deeply affecting story of race in America. Illus. + Map, Notes on Sources and Index. 316pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F. in Nr. F. dw.