JASPER, Texas (AP) -- A white man who insisted he was too afraid of his racist companions to help James Byrd Jr. was convicted Thursday of capital murder in the black man's dragging death.
Shawn Allen Berry will either spend life in prison or join his two co-defendants on death row.Berry, 24, declined an invitation to comment after the verdict was read. His supporters were in tears, and girlfriend Christie Marcontell wept as Berry wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
The jury, which began deliberating at midday Wednesday, must next decide on a punishment for the grisly killing.
Byrd, 49, was beaten, then chained by the ankles and dragged behind a pickup truck to his death June 7, 1998, in one of the nation's ghastliest racial crimes in decades.
John William King, 24, and Lawrence Russell Brewer, 32, both avowed racists, were convicted earlier this year and sentenced to die.
Berry's jury deliberated longer than the combined time it took juries to decide the cases of King and Brewer.
Defense and prosecution agreed Berry did not follow the racist dogma of his co-defendants. But prosecutors said Berry knew giving an intoxicated Byrd a lift could incite trouble.
Prosecutor Pat Hardy said in Wednesday's closing arguments Berry knew exactly what his friends had in mind for Byrd. "A progression of events show Shawn Berry knew what was going on," Hardy said. Defense attorney Joseph Hawthorn conceded that Berry made "terrible" decisions after the killing, such as failing to call police, cleaning blood evidence and lying to investigators. But Hawthorn said nothing in his behavior showed an intent to kidnap or kill Byrd.