JASPER, Texas A white supremacist was found guilty here Tuesday of murdering a black man by chaining him by the feet to the back of a truck and dragging him down a country road to his death. The 12-member jury 11 whites and one black returned the guilty verdict against John King, 24, after deliberating for about two hours, and promptly began hearing arguments on whether he should be given the death penalty.

King, wearing a white knit turtleneck shirt, blue jeans and a new pair of sneakers, was expressionless upon learning the verdict. But his father, Ronald King, wept as he sat in his wheelchair alongside the front row of spectators. Applause from others in the public prompted Judge Joe Bob Golden to admonish the courtroom audience. Outside the courthouse, as the convicted killer was placed in a pickup truck for a ride back to jail, a woman shouted: Y'all should drag him from the truck! referring to the way James Byrd, 49, was killed.

Mary Verrette, Byrd's sister, said the verdict was a partial victory. We win and yet we still lose because we don't have him, she said of her brother.