Second Dragging Death Trial Moved From Texas Town
The judge in the second trial over the dragging death of a black man agreed Wednesday to move the case out of Jasper after the defense argued the town may be inclined to convict the white defendant to salvage its image.
Where Lawrence Russell Brewer will be tried won’t be made public until May 14. Judge Monte Lawlis said jury selection may not begin until July.
Last week, Dist. Atty. Guy James Gray persuaded Lawlis to reject defense efforts to move Brewer’s trial from Jasper. But then Gray decided he didn’t want the defense to be able to bring up the change of venue issue in an appeal if Brewer is convicted. So Gray too asked the judge to move the trial.
“What I’m trying to do is avoid a sideshow,” Gray said.
Brewer, 32, is one of three white men accused of chaining James Byrd Jr. to a pickup truck last June and dragging him for three miles along a rural road.
In February, John William King, 24, was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.
Brewer smiled and shook his attorneys’ hands after Wednesday’s hearing.
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