Dragging Verdict Aftermath

A day after a Texas jury returned a life sentence for the third and last white man to go on trial for the fatal dragging of James Byrd Jr., a black Jasper man, friends and relatives reacted to the verdict.

"A heavy load had been lifted off of our shoulders," James Byrd Jr.'s sister Mary Verrett told CBS Early Show Co-Anchor Jane Clayson. "We feel that now we can rest in peace."

Verrett said although she thought all three men should have received the same punishment, she supports the jury's decision.

Byrd's sister Clara Taylor said her brother would be satisfied with the outcome of the trial because "now he would realize that the judicial system feels that he was somebody - that his life was worthy of them completely prosecuting these three young men to the maximum extent."

Twenty-four-year-old Shawn Allen Berry could have gotten the death penalty - as did his two co-defendants - for killing Byrd. Instead, Berry got a life prison term. He'll be eligible for parole in 40 years.

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Although Berry's girlfriend, Christie Marcontell, said she respected the Byrd family and the jurors' decision, she said Berry is "not capable of doing that to anybody."

Before he left the courtroom, Marcontell said Berry told her, "not to worry, he would be okay and that this wasn't a good-bye, it was an 'I'll see you later.'"

Berry and the others picked up Byrd along a Jasper road on June 7, 1998. The 49-year-old man was then taken outside of town, beaten, chained by the feet to the back of Berry's pickup and dragged along the rough rural road until he was decapitated.

In a tearful interview with CBS News Anchor Dan Rather which aired in September, Berry said he tried to stop the beating, but stood by and wet his pants in fear.