Murders Texas

A 22-year-old Texas man pleaded guilty Tuesday to capital murder in the slaying of a television reporter who studied broadcast journalism at Cal State Northridge and worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles before moving to that state. Anthony Gary Silvestri, of Temple, Texas, opted to plead guilty in order to obtain a life sentence rather than risk drawing the death penalty if the case went to trial, according to Texas officials.

Country singer Johnny Rodriguez was charged with murder in the shooting death at his home early Saturday of an acquaintance he mistook for a burglar, his lawyer said. He was being held Saturday night in the county jail in lieu of $250,000 bond. Rodriguez, 47, is charged in the shooting death of Israel Borrego, 26, an unemployed laborer he met a few months ago. Borrego died at a hospital after being shot once in the abdomen.

Dozens of area residents packed a funeral home Friday for the wake of a black man who was dragged to death behind a pickup truck on a country road. Flower arrangements surrounded the gray and silver casket, with a framed picture of James Byrd Jr. on top of it. Oleather Cooper, 39, knew the 49-year-old Byrd his whole life and recalled how he was always singing. She said the slaying was racist but perhaps could serve a higher purpose.

Black members of Congress expressed outrage Thursday but little surprise at the brutal murder of a black man in Texas, and they urged Americans to root out what one called "deep and vicious racism in this country." "It manifests itself at the street level in murder, but it also manifests itself at the boardroom in discrimination," Rep. Albert Russell Wynn (D-Md.) said. Rep.

The Ku Klux Klan plans a rally June 27 in this town, which is trying to recover from the killing of a black man who was chained to a pickup truck and dragged 2 1/2 miles until his body was torn to pieces. Three white men allegedly linked to white supremacist groups have been charged with the brutal murder last week of 49-year-old James Byrd. No parade permit is necessary, City Atty. Gary Gatlin said.

The small town of Jasper, where a black man was dragged to his death behind a pickup earlier this month, is bracing for rallies by white supremacists and black activists. Ku Klux Klan groups have permission for a two-hour gathering at which they plan to distance themselves from the killing of 49-year-old James Byrd while promoting "white pride." Members of black Muslim groups and the New Black Panther Party also plan to be in Jasper, saying they want to protect the local black population.

For one father, this Father's Day was not a day to gather with family around cards and presents. Instead, James Byrd Sr., whose son's savage death at the hands of alleged white supremacists in Jasper, Texas, grabbed headlines two weeks ago, spent Sunday visiting two Southland churches and talking about peace and reconciliation. "Love is able to heal all wounds," Byrd said before attending services at the All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena.

The Ku Klux Klan rallied Saturday, saying it condemned the slaying of a black man who was dragged to his death behind a pickup truck, allegedly by three white men. Black counterdemonstrators carrying guns showed up and police kept the two sides apart. Two men, one black and one white, were arrested for disorderly conduct as the 90-minute klan rally ended. "If nothing else, we've taught Jasper County freedom of speech," klansman Darrell Flinn said. "And we've gotten to denounce the murder."

Sweat and tears bled together in James Byrd Jr.'s hometown Saturday as hundreds of mourners gathered around his steel coffin to honor America's latest symbol of racial hurt and, possibly, healing.