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Texas inmate faces April execution for 1998 dragging death

Posted at 2:00 PM, Dec 23, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-23 15:01:31-05
Photo: John William King

JASPER, Texas (AP) – A white man condemned for the 1998 dragging death of a black man in East Texas has been scheduled for execution next year.

John William King faces lethal injection April 24. District Judge Craig Mixson signed the execution order Friday.

The U.S. Supreme Court in October denied an appeal for King, who claimed he had ineffective lawyers during his capital murder trial.

King was one of three white men convicted in the June 1998 death of James Byrd Jr. The victim was chained to a pickup truck and dragged along a road near Jasper, about 125 miles (201.16 kilometers) northeast of Houston.

Photo: James Byrd Jr.

 

A second man convicted in Byrd’s death has been executed. The third man is serving life in prison.