3 Whites Indicted in Dragging Death

Three white men were indicted on capital murder charges in the alleged hate-slaying of a black man who was chained to a pickup truck and dragged to his death. Two separate indictments, issued by a Jasper County grand jury, accuse the three of kidnapping and killing James Byrd Jr., 49, on June 7 on a rural East Texas road. Named in one indictment are John William King, 23, of Jasper and Lawrence Russell Brewer, 31, of Sulphur Springs. A second indictment names Shawn Allen Berry, 23, of Jasper. The suspects remain jailed without bond in what authorities call a racially motivated crime.