United States: Execution of John William King, author of one of the most shocking hate crimes

He has co-authored one of the most shocking hate crimes in the recent history of the United States, a crime for which he was sentenced to death.

On Wednesday, John William King was executed with a lethal injection at the Huntsville, Texas, state prison for the 1998 murder of James Byrd, an African-American who, along with two other men, brutally beat him, chained and dragged kilometers on the sidewalk.

The case had a huge impact on society and a little more than a decade later, it was one of the reasons why the US Congress had pbaded a law against crimes motivated by hate.

William, a 44-year-old racist who confessed himself, was the first white man to be sentenced to death for the murder of an African-American in modern history. 39, State of Texas, reported the New York Times.

His conviction occurred in late 1998, after a process in which prosecutors had named him as the group leader who had attacked Byrd.

Your accomplices

Lawrence Russell Brewer, another of the convicts, was executed in 2011.

The third striker, Shawn Allen Berry, was sentenced to life imprisonment and not to the death penalty, as it was shown that he did not share the ideology of Brewer and King's white supremacy. .

According to the American press, he could be released on parole in 2038.

King tried to appeal his sentence on several occasions, which allowed him to postpone his execution.

But in recent months, he had no other choice, after the US Supreme Court of Justice. reject a request for review of your case.