Suspect Spoke of a Murder, Witness Says

JASPER, Texas —  Dragging-death defendant John William King once talked about committing murder as a way to get into a white supremacist gang, a former fellow inmate testified Thursday.

“To help new recruits get initiated, take somebody out and kill them. You have to spill blood to get in and give blood to get out, I guess,” convicted robber William Hoover testified, recounting what he says King told him while they were both in prison a few years ago.

King, 24, is the first of three white men to go on trial in the slaying of James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old black man who was abducted last June, chained to a pickup truck and dragged until his body was torn to pieces. King could get the death penalty.

It wasn’t clear from Hoover’s testimony about the prison conversation what gang they were talking about. But prosecutors have said that King killed Byrd to gain credibility for a racist group he was organizing.