HUNTSVILLE - As the sisters of his victim watched solemnly but dry-eyed, Lawrence Russell Brewer was executed Wednesday for the 1998 Jasper dragging murder of James Byrd Jr. - a racially motivated killing that stunned the nation.

He was the first of two Byrd killers scheduled to be put to death. A third killer was sentenced to life in prison.

Brewer, 44, made no final statement before the lethal drugs were started at 6:11 p.m. He was declared dead 10 minutes later.

Brewer, visibly pale, looked toward the witness room occupied by his parents and brother. He did not make eye contact with Byrd's two sisters and niece, who occupied an adjoining witness room.

Tears began to form in his eyes as he breathed heavily and died.

Clara Taylor and Louvon Harris, the victim's sisters, stood silently as the execution took place.

"Tonight we witnessed the next step toward complete justice for James - the execution of Lawrence Brewer for his part in this brutal murder," Taylor said afterward. "Hopefully today we have been reminded that racial hatred and prejudice can lead to tragic consequences for both the victim and his family as well as the perpetrator and his family."

Taylor said she was "still processing" the execution. "Maybe in the midnight hour I'll process it," she said. "It was quick and sobering."

Taylor said she wanted to hear a final statement from the killer, but also was afraid of what he might say. "My understanding is he had no remorse, he was unrepentant," she said. " … It could have gone in any direction."

Brewer's relatives, who wept during the execution, made no public statement.

Shocked the nation

The Byrd killing, occurring in Deep East Texas, the portion of the state most closely tied to the American South and its history of lynching, shocked and sickened the nation. Byrd, 49, was abducted as he walked along a Jasper road, beaten, urinated on and dragged about 2 miles behind a pickup by log chains attached to his ankles.

He was decapitated when his body struck a culvert.

Brewer and his accomplices, John William King and Shawn Allen Berry, dumped their victim's mangled body at an African-American cemetery and went to eat barbecue.

Investigators found Brewer's DNA on a cigarette and beer bottle at the crime scene and Byrd's blood on his shoes. The brutality of the crime fueled efforts to enact state and federal hate crime laws.

Jasper County law officers who recently visited Brewer on death row said he expressed no remorse.

King, like Brewer, was sentenced to die for the crime; Berry was sent to prison for life.

Prison authorities, who - uncertain of the number or nature of protests the execution might spawn - ringed the Walls Unit with extra guards. But raucous protests never developed.

By late afternoon, dozens of demonstrators - including African-American comedian Dick Gregory - assembled in an area near the prison set aside for protests.

"Any state killing is wrong," he said. "If Adolf Hitler were to be executed, I would be here to protest … I believe life in prison is punishment. Execution is revenge."

Among outnumbered capital punishment supporters was Sam Houston State University political science student Josh Ruschenberg, who lofted a sign urging reinstatement of "Ol' Sparky," the state's decommissioned electric chair.

"I've always been for the death penalty," he said. "I think the state should be able to assess the maximum punishment for maximum offenses. The crime they committed was so heinous."

Didn't eat final meal

Prison officials said Brewer, whose appeals were exhausted, appeared to be in good spirits hours before the execution and joked with the prison warden and chaplain.

Brewer ordered - but did not eat - a final meal of two chicken fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a cheese omelet, a large bowl of fried okra, three fajitas, a pint of Blue Bell ice cream, and a pound of barbecue with a half loaf of white bread.

Brewer and King - both members of a white supremacist gang - met at Tennessee Colony's Beto Unit, where Brewer was serving time for burglary and drug possession.

Beaumont Enterprise reporter Heather Nolan contributed to this report.

allan.turner@chron.com