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TATE
Page 7 « Thursday, November 18, 1999
TGdrT begins deliberations in third Jasper trial
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JASPER (AP) — After hearing his attorney in
st that Shawn Allen Berry made poor choices
Lit was no killer, jurors began deciding yesterday
n whether he should be convicted of capital
turcier in last year’s dragging death of a black
loset of actor/hust astlTexas man.
os ( ‘Full House’ Jurors began deliberating shortly after 12:30
le was not thrilled m * following roughly one and a half hours
lly turned pair oil argument 5 -
into i skirt W 1IK Berr y> g 111 '^ 0 * ca P lta l murder, the
i V ‘ „ iryjmust agree that he intentionally took part in
O o ' e tekilling and kidnapping of James Bvrd Jr. Con-
ig on soniomuig j ct j (m would require either a life prison term or
exy - Stamos beo de [ th sentence.
on police. S|ate District Judge Joe Bob Golden also gave
\ alue his opinion: irors the option of finding Berry guilty of the less-
I wear,” she said, -clparge of murder, which does not include the
ose girls who goe; idiiapping component and does not carry a po-
with one shoe on until 1 death sentence.
sks him, 'Whichor- Berry is accused of helping chain Byrd to the
mijn-Stamos was or !arpf a pickup truck and dragging him for more
the 1999 Sports II! iai i three miles along bumpy, country road to his
suit issue and is a ^V 1 on June 7, 1998. Two other white co-de-
hi NBC’s "Just Shoe fndants - av °wed racists Lawrence Russell Brew-
t she will be unre ra r d • ,0 * in w 'll ian ' 1 Kin g’ were sentenced to die
she appears in the 1 se P arate trials earlier this year.
■ srliediileri tor rele Iri closin g arguments yesterday, Berry’s attor-
ey, Joseph C. “Lum” Hawthorn, told the jury
lat Berry concedes to making “terrible” deci-
ons after the killing — not calling the police,
cashing off his truck and the chain and lying to
•s 10 hours to get he: instigators.
3 s outtit and twoh Jut prosecutors have changed their story to fit
'' out. ae defendant in each of the three trials,
plays an evil blue hawthorn argued.
mijn-Stamos jokedt'Bwhen Bill King was prosecuted, he was the
d the part after revet nglcader,” Hawthorn told jurors. “When Brew-
k 14 hours to paint
)f her “bathing si
; Illustrated,
r philosophy is to:
er was prosecuted, he was the ringleader. It was
still a racial hate crime. Then they shift gears.
[Prosecutor Pat] Hardy now says he’s worse than
Bill King and Russell Brewer?
“The two people who killed James Byrd have
been tried, convicted and have been given a death
sentence,” he said.
ter. Why?
it much can be
her role. But here
“That man right there was
the worst of the bunch/'
— Pat Hardy
prosecutor
Berry contends he was a paralyzed bystander
when Brewer, 32, and King, 25, decided to kill Byrd
in a frenzy of racist hate. His attorney presented
more than a dozen witnesses — some black —
who testified that Berry was not a racist. Hawthorn
also challenged the integrity of the crime scene and
certain blood and footprint evidence.
“What is amazing to me is the African-Amer
icans we had on the stand in this case, in this
county — with the Byrd family sitting right there
— saying Shawn Berry couldn’t do this,”
Hawthorn said.
Prosecutors contend that he was aware that his
roommates — both covered in white supremacist
tattoos — had deadly plans for the black man as
they drove into the wooded country outside
Jasper. They did not try to prove Berry was a
racist, but that his participation made him equal
ly responsible for the crime.
In his closing. Hardy told jurors that “a pro
gression of events ... show Shawn Berry knew
what was going on. ”
Hardy noted that Berry had Byrd in the front
seat of the pickup truck “so he couldn’t get away,”
and Berry convinced Byrd he had nothing to fear
as they rode out to the remote logging road where
the attack began.
“Who keeps him in the vehicle? Who soothes
him over? Shawn Berry,” Hardy said.
Hardy also reminded the jury that prints from
the shoes of King and Brewer were found in the
dirt on passenger side of the vehicle, meaning Berry
must have been driving when Byrd was dragged.
“Mr. Berry beat the man up.,” Hardy said. “Mr.
Berry had the chain. Mr. Berry drove down to the
property he knew. This was Mr. Berry’s show as
much as the others. That man right there was the
worst of the bunch.”
Hardy and Jasper County District Attorney Guy
James Gray have acknowledged that convicting
Berry would be a harder sell. Jasper is Berry’s home
town, and he is well-liked in the community.
Although Hawthorn originally requested a tri
al in Jasper, he sought a last-minute change of
venue that was denied.
The trial also was complicated by a separate
legal battle between prosecutors and CBS execu
tives over a tearful interview Berry gave to an
chor Dan Rather, portions of which aired on “60
Minutes II” in September.
After the fight reached two appellate courts
and a CBS producer was facing jail for contempt
of court, the network turned over the entire tran
script of Berry’s interview to prosecutors.
Jurors will be able to compare Berry’s expla
nation of his role in the statement he gave police
with the CBS interview.
ee charged in beating death
News in Brief
ig the performance
being a musician,
kage,” she said. “I
m with fun. ]• WACO (AP) — Two teen-agers
hink that fashioner nd a 19-year-old have been
ut attitude,” she sail barged with capital murder in the
nee you strip thbeating death of a 68-year-old
see that we all c tandyman.
le beginnings and vi. (IVaco police said Edward M.
it none of us haste .ee was killed during the robbery
so seriouslv." Iiesday morning of a downtown
Naco used car business.
■The owner of Burns Used Cars,
Jlenn Burns, arrived shortly after
he attack and also was assaulted
ay the suspects, police say.
pfRayshun Dewayne Gooden, 19,
and a presente an d a 14-year-old boy, whose iden-
i and finally preset hty is being withheld as a juvenile,
were arrested by police shortly af-
a person listens f< 4er ^ ee ' n § the scene,
n w new types ofmn ^ third aspect, a 16-year-old
nale, was arrested late that after
hall, put a CD on oiW n - Pol , ic f declined to release
id everything you’ve iY' UVt ] ni e S name , . ., ,
f j u j.,Gooden remained tailed yester-
s formed your ear. M» at the McLennan County Jail
uch with what youaj| eu of $ 5 00) 000 bond. The ju-
it you don t knowanc en jj es were being held in a local
efention center, officials said.
swer session to foil:
a typical question-acS _____
In an arrest affidavit, police said
it appeared Lee had been beaten
with an unknown object, “causing
severe blunt force trauma.”
“There was definitely a struggle
and quite an amount of blood (in
side the office),” Justice of the
Peace Billy Martin told the Waco
TYibune Herald. “What we have
right now is a victim, and it defi
nitely appears to be a murder or
homicide. We don’t know much
more than that right now.”
Police said Gooden and the 14-
year-old were in possession of two
bank bags that the car lot’s owner
dropped when one of the suspects
attempted to hit him with a fire ex
tinguisher. The business owner
was not seriously injured.
Gooden was also in possession
of credit cards that belonged to
Lee, police said.
Lee often arrived at the busi
ness shortly before 9 a.m. to open
the office for Burns, employees of
nearby businesses said.
Boy grazed by bullet
while on school bus
SPRINGTOWN (AP) — A 12-year-
old boy was injured yesterday when
a bullet struck him while riding on
a school bus.
The shooting appears to have
been an accident. The shot came
from a small-caliber weapon out
side the bus, possibly from a
hunter, officials said.
Authorities said the bullet grazed
the boy’s head, and the injury does
not appear life-threatening. The
youngster went by ambulance to
Cook Children's Medical Center in
Fort Worth.
Deputies were questioning a
young person at the scqne of the
shooting in Wise County, 28 miles
northwest of Fort Worth.
The shooting happened about
4:30 p.m., Lt. Randy Joy of the
Wise County Sheriff’s Department
said. Hunters and target shooters
frequently use the rural area where
the shooting happened.
When the bus driver heard a gun
shot, he told the children to duck.
He drove into Parker County before
calling police.
Swiss architects
quit project at UT
AUSTIN (AP) — The Swiss archi
tects who have been designing an
art museum for the University of
Texas have quit, a setback that
could delay the museum a year.
The resignation of Herzog & de
Meuron was announced Tuesday by
UT officials.
University president Larry Faulkn
er, who had been negotiating with
the firm to resolve regents’ con
cerns about its nontraditional de
sign, said the architects did not be
lieve they could satisfy the regents’
demand that the design be com
patible with the campus master
plan and other university buildings.
UT now will search for a new ar
chitect “with a closer coupling with
regents than is normally done,”
Faulkner said.
.i will see something|
ione before, andl
opes to introduce tk
hestral music,
avorites mixed wilt
once,” she said. “HI
vone involved, notji®
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