Ten years after the hate crime murder of James Byrd Jr., Jasper County criminal district attorney's Mike Wilson (left) and Richard Drake (right), hold the chain used to drag Byrd behind the pick-up truck on June 7, 1998.
The grave of James Byrd Jr. who was killed in a hate crime when he was pulled behind the pick-up truck in Jasper on June 7, 1998 by Shawn Allen Berry, then 24, Lawrence Russell Brewer Jr., then 32, and John William King Jr., then 24.
Former Jasper County Sheriff Billy Rowles, stands on Huff Creek Road Tuesday, June 3, 2008, just outside of Jasper, where James Byrd Jr., 49, was tied up by a logging chain and dragged almost three miles behind a pick-up truck.
It was right outside the Huff Creek Memorial Chapel on Huff Creek Road where James Byrd's torso was discovered.
Mike Wilson, Jasper County criminal district attorney investigator, was the DA investigator at the time of James Byrd Jr. murder. Wilson feels the sentencing of two death penalties and life in prison for Byrd's three murderers "sent a message to racists across the country."
An old logging road, now overgrown, just off Huff Creek Road, is where James Byrd was beaten and chained to the back of a pick-up truck and dragged almost three miles.
Thousands lined the streets of Jasper while the James Byrd Jr. trial was held inside the Jasper County Courthouse including the media, Klu Klux Klan, Black Panthers, and the public. The event brought nightly national updates from Ted Kopple that was seen around the world in the community of about 5,000.
At left, Dayzha Southwell, 11, Nicole McMullen, 11, and Makayla Riley, 10, play at the Boys and Girls Club of Jasper. The girls said they have heard of James Byrd Jr., before, but were not that familiar with his murder. The Children said they have heard other children use racists words to each other at school, but they don't think it's right.
The pick-up truck that James Byrd Jr., was dragged behind, sits in the Jasper Exxon Towing and Recovery where it hasn't been touched since the trial. The owner of the facility said, "I can't touch it, there's too much evil attached to it."
Betty Boatner, one of Byrds six sisters, stands next her brother's grave in the Jasper City Cemetery. Boatner says she forgives her brother's killers, and says the community has been changed for the better through his death. However, she never wants people to forget the fact that, "he was killed because he was black."