Inmate: Defendant once spoke about gang initiation

The Associated Press

JASPER, Texas -- Dragging-death defendant John William King once talked about "taking a black out" -- 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. King, 24, is the first of three white men to go on trial in the slaying of James It wasn't clear from Hoover's testimony about the prison conversation who would do the killing or what gang they were talking about. But prosecutors have said King killed Byrd to gain credibility for a racist group he was organizing. Hoover, 28, said the idea described by King was to abduct a black man, "kidnap him maybe, put him in the trunk of a car, take him out in the woods (and) kill him" to "prove your loyalty to your organization." Prosecutors say King's idea nearly matches what happened to Byrd. King was in prison for burglary at the time. In other testimony, defense attorneys suggested King's many racist tattoos were a means of helping him survive in prison. Under questioning, the heavily tattooed Hoover said such markings are intended to show solidarity with other white inmates and ward off attacks from blacks. Hoover joined the Aryan Brotherhood, a white prison gang. King joined the Confederate Knights of America. Prosecutors have cited King's tattoos as evidence of a hatred of blacks. The tattoos depict the lynching of a black man, Nazi-style SS lightning bolts and the words "Aryan Pride." Lawrence Russell Brewer, 31, and Shawn Allen Berry, 24, are to be tried later.

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