JASPER, Texas (CNN) -- White
supremacist John King, still
maintaining his innocence, was
sentenced to death by lethal injection
Thursday for his role in chaining a
black man to a pickup and dragging
him along a Texas road until he was
decapitated.

State law requires all death penalty
cases to be appealed, so even if the
verdict is upheld, it will be at least
several years before King is executed for last year's murder of James Byrd
Jr.

Jurors, who convicted King of capital murder Tuesday, could have
recommended a life sentence, meaning King would have served 40 years in
prison before he was eligible for parole.

State District Judge Joe Bob Golden handed down the death sentence
immediately after receiving that recommendation from the jury.

Byrd's family reacts

Byrd's family members wiped their eyes
but declined Golden's offer to address
King.

Renee Mullins, Byrd's daughter, said later
that she was "very satisfied" with the
decision. Nephew Darrell Verrett held up
his fingers in the peace sign and said,
"everything's okay."

Jury foreman Joe Collins read from a
statement after the verdict.

"As a group, we all agree that we are just common citizens who felt that
serving on this jury was an obligation and not a privilege," he said. "Each of
us believes that justice has been served."

Minutes after his sentencing, King was
taken from the Jasper County
Courthouse for the 75-mile drive to
the state prison in Huntsville where
death row inmates in Texas are
housed.

King said nothing in the courtroom or
outside, but he passed a handwritten
note to his attorney as he was taken
from the courthouse following his
sentencing.

Printed in block letters, it reads: "Though I remain adamant about my
innocence, it's been obvious from the beginning that this community would
get what they desire; so I'll close with the words of Francis Yockey, 'The
promise of success is with the man who is determined to die proudly when it
is no longer possible to live proudly.'

The note was signed, "Sincerely, John W. King."

Yockey was a Nazi sympathizer who died in 1960.

The sentence makes King the first white person to be condemned for killing
a black person -- at least since Texas reinstated the death penalty in the
mid-1970s.

Two other men, Shawn Berry, 24, and Lawrence Brewer, 31, are awaiting
trial for the June 7, 1998, crime.

Jury considers King a threat to others

The defense suggested during the trial
that he had the knife, called a "shank," because he was thinking of harming
himself.

But the prosecution said the handle was taped, arguing King did that to
prevent "hurting himself when he digs somebody else with it."

The jury later asked to see letters with racist writings King sent to a girlfriend
while he was imprisoned on a burglary charge. They also requested another
note written to co- defendant Brewer that was intercepted by deputies.

"Regardless of the outcome of this, we have made history and shall die
proudly remembered, if need be," King wrote in the note introduced into
evidence Monday.

King met for about 20 minutes
Thursday morning with his
68-year-old father, Ronald, who has
emphysema and received medical
treatment for breathing difficulties after
emerging from the courthouse.
The jury began its deliberations after
hearing final prosecution and defense arguments in the trial's penalty phase.
Combined, the two sides took about 35 minutes to wrap up their positions
-- prosecutors calling King a danger to others who should be put to death;
the defense asking that he be spared.

"By giving Mr. King a life sentence, you're giving him at least 40 years to
catch a black guard, a black nurse, a black doctor, a Jewish guard, a Jewish
nurse, a Jewish doctor, or anybody else," said Jasper County Assistant
District Attorney Pat Hardy. "You're giving him a chance to catch anybody
... who doesn't believe in his satanic, racist views."

District Attorney Guy James Gray told the jurors that if they let King live,
"he's going to try to send missionaries out in the world" to hurt and kill again.

But defense attorney Brack Jones told jurors that keeping King in jail would
be a more severe sentence than killing him.

"Twenty-two hours a day in that cell -- a life sentence -- is probably going to
punish him more," Jones said.

"Your vote is not going to bring Mr. Byrd back," Jones said. "I wish it could.
... Regardless of whether you vote life or death, John William King is a dead
man walking."

"Please don't kill him," Jones' partner, Haden "Sonny" Cribbs implored.

Cribbs blamed King's intense hatred of blacks on an incident in which he
was assaulted by blacks at the start of his prison term for burglary in 1995.

"This boy went in a boy and came back as a young man old in experience,"
said Cribbs. "He wasn't a racist when he went in there. He was a racist and
a hater when he came back. Something happened to him in the penitentiary."

As the opposing attorneys presented their arguments, King sat at the defense
table writing.

Jasper County Sheriff Billy Rowles said King was "acting up" in jail
overnight, after being moved to another cell.

"He was cussing, kicking on the door, yelling and screaming most of the
night," Rowles told CNN. "He didn't have a good night."

Rowles also said King threatened jailers. "He told one of our guys that with
what he's got facing him ... we can't do nothing more to him."

King was not restrained, the sheriff said. "We just let him rant and rave."

-- C. Zewe with AP - 2/24/99