Miscellaneous - http://maxpages.com/starfire7s/FROM_THE_FILES_OF_THE

JASPER, Texas (AP) -- A sheriff testified today that
he figured out pretty quickly the accident he was
investigating was no hit-and-run -- especially after
a lighter with three interlocking K's was found along
the bloody trail left by a black man who had been
dragged to his death.

AP
John William King"I'm a brand-new sheriff.
I didn't even know the definition of a hate crime,
but I knew somebody had been murdered
because he had been black," Billy Rowles said.
"Once we saw the KKK emblem on the cigarette
lighter, that's when we started having some bad
thoughts."

Rowles was the first witness as alleged white
supremacist John William King went on trial on
murder charges in the gruesome death of
James Byrd Jr.

Byrd, 49, was chained to the back of a pickup
truck June 7 and dragged for three miles as his
body was ripped to pieces.

King, a 24-year-old unemployed laborer, is the
first of three white men charged in the crime to
stand trial. He could get the death penalty.

Mostly white jury

Prosecutor Guy James Gray said in his opening
statement that King's tatoos and writings in
his apartment show King was an angry racist who
wanted to form a hate group and "needed to do
something dramatic in order to gain in their
warped world respect for his newly formed gang."

The jury consists of 11 whites and one black.
Jasper County, from which the jurors were drawn,
is 18 percent black.

King's attorney, Haden "Sonny" Cribbs, made no
opening statement, reserving the option to do
so later. "The evidence, it appears overwhelming,"
he acknowledged Monday. "But you've got to prove
the accused has done the offense."

Gory photos presented

The sheriff described to jurors what he saw early
in his investigation. Rowles said the evidence
wasn't consistent with a routine hit-and-run
accident: There were no skid marks, and the bloody
trail did not run parallel to the tire tracks.

AP
James Byrd Jr."It was going through my mind:
We've got a problem. Somebody's dragging
something," Rowles said.

The lighter with three K's forming a
triangle was also engraved with the
word "Possum," the nickname King picked up
while in prison for burglary.

The jurors were given a folder of photos of
Byrd's battered remains, which an investigator
said were missing a right arm, neck and head.

"It looked like an animal drug down the road,"
Tommy Robinson testified.

'White is right'

An 18-year-old Jasper woman, Michelle Chapman,
testified that during a two-year period while
King was in prison, she received 19 letters
from him, some of them filled with racist
venom. One included the proclamation:
"White is right."

When he got out, Chapman said, King visited
her in June 1997 and showed the tattoos he
got while locked up, including one of a black
man hanged. Gray, the prosecutor, said the
tattoos also include a burning cross, a
Confederate flag and Nazi swastikas.

The lighter, King's DNA on a cigarette
and less than a drop of the victim's blood
on King's shoes all will link King to the
killing, the prosecutor said.

Investigators also found handwritten notes
in King's apartment that included a
constitution, bylaws, a code of ethics and
a membership application for a group to be
called the Texas Rebel Soldiers of the
Confederate Knights of America, Gray said.

Judge bars rallies, signs

King showed little reaction in court,
responding only with a "not guilty
your honor," when asked how he pleaded.

King's ailing father, Ronald, an oxygen
tube in his nose, sat nearby, as did
Kylie Greeney, his girlfriend and mother
of the couple's infant son.

As has been the custom, he wore a
bulletproof vest as he was escorted
into the courthouse by deputies. The
110-year-old courthouse has been
outfitted for the trial with metal
detectors, package scanners and
numerous security cameras. State
District Judge Joe Bob Golden has
barred rallies and signs about the
case for two blocks.

Two other men, Lawrence Russell Brewer,
31, and Shawn Allen Berry, 23,
will be tried later.

Thirteen members of Byrd's family
were present when court began, but
some left, including two of his children.
Some burst into tears when Byrd's
blackened and torn white underwear
was introduced into evidence.

"I'm trying to get closure to what happened
to my father," said Renee Mullins, 28, who
stayed in court. "I feel obligated to be here."

the Starfire

Titles of pages to be added as I
have time to edit them in:

FOOTBALL GREAT'S DAUGHTER KILLED

FEMALE PRISON ESCAPEES CAPTURED

TEENAGE GIRL MISSING AFTER DATE

DEATH OF L.A. SHOPKEEPER WOUNDS COMMUNITY

BOMB MAILED TO CALGARY POLICE CHIEF

JUDGE TELLS OBSCENE CALLER TO SELL HOME

GIRL FLEES WOULD-BE KIDNAPPER

TEEN CALLED SCHOOLYARD EXTORTIONIST

D.A. WON'T RETRY 'GERONIMO' PRATT

FRIEND TIES DRAG-DEATH DEFENDANT TO CRIME

PARALYZED BLACK MARINE FACES ATTACKERS

VIKINGS FAN ADMITS SETTING FOES ON FIRE

ANGUISHED FATHER POSTS ONLINE APPEAL

GROUP ALLEGEDLY TORTURED DISABLED MAN

JACKSON WANTS FEDERAL PROBE OF SHOOTING

N.J. AUTHORITIES SEEK WIFE KILLER

ARKANSAS, TEXAS EXECUTE TRIPLE-KILLERS

KEVORKIAN: CONSTITUTION ALLOWS MERCY KILLING

GROOM SLAIN 12 HOURS BEFORE WEDDING

RETIRED BUTCHER'S WIFE FOUND DEAD IN FREEZER

COURT PLAYS CONFESSION IN SCHOOL SHOOTING CASE

REPUTED OHIO MOB BOSS PLEADS GUILTY

COPS: DAD KILLED KIDS FOR INSURANCE CASH

THREE KILLED IN VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE

TEEN BABY SITTER CHARGED WITH MURDER

FBI LAB BOSS SAYS PROBLEMS ARE CURED

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Page Updated Thu Feb 18, 1999 4:23am EST