King was one of three white men convicted of carrying out one of the most gruesome racist murders in recent US history. Byrd was alive for some two miles (3.2 kilometers) while being dragged along the road, a pathologist testified during King's trial. During the sentencing phase of King's trial, his attorneys argued that prison violence had compelled him to hook up with a white prison gang. The 1999 death sentence for King was the first in Texas since the 1970s handed to a white man for killing a black man. If King's execution is carried out as scheduled, it will be the fourth so far this year in the United States.

Source: Bangkok Post April 24, 2019 16:07 UTC