Byrd

JASPER, Texas (CNN) -- The defendant buried his head in his hands Monday as the prosecutor told potential jurors why they should give avowed white supremacist John William King the death penalty for his alleged role in the killing of a black man.

King, 24, and two other men are accused of stripping James Byrd Jr. last summer, chaining him to a pickup truck and dragging him for two miles until his head was severed.

Guy James Gray, Jasper County district attorney, briefly outlined the details of the Byrd's death Monday.

"James Byrd at the time he was chained at the back of the pickup truck was alive," Gray said. "Not only was he alive, he was conscious at the time, and he was using his elbows and his body in any way he could to keep his head and shoulders away from the pavement."

The prosecutor said Byrd's shredded body was left outside a black cemetery "as some form of a message."

Brewer, Berry and King (Top to bottom)

Gray also told the jury pool that he was "not a great fan" of the death penalty but felt it was correct to apply it in some cases. "There are times and circumstances where it seems to me that it is the only appropriate and right sentence," he said.

Defense Attorney Sonny Cribbs spoke against the death penalty in his opening remarks to potential jurors.

"I'll tell you up front. I don't believe in the death penalty," said Cribbs. "I just don't think it is a proper punishment for any case, period."

By Monday afternoon, the jury pool was reduced to 122 people, 21 of them black. It is expected to take up to three weeks of additional questioning to whittle that pool down to 12 jurors and two alternates for a trial that is expected to last one week.

The killing shocked the nation and the world, drawing new focus to racial crimes. There were gatherings in the town of 8,000 of the Ku Klux Klan and the New Black Panthers.

King, an ex-convict once involved in a racist prison gang, wore a bulletproof vest as he was escorted into the Jasper County Courthouse. In place of shackles in the courtroom, King wore a 50,000 volt electric belt tied around his waist.

Whether King intended to kidnap Byrd and then to kill him will be a key contention in the capital murder case. And if King is convicted, that same factor could help determine whether he is sentenced to life in prison or put to death by lethal injection.

King has denied killing Byrd. In a letter published November 11 in the Dallas Morning News, King said Shawn Allen Berry, his friend since high school, killed Byrd in a soured drug deal. He said Berry previously bought steroids from Byrd. But the prosecutor said there was no evidence to support King's claims.

King has denied that he had ties to racist groups, but ended the letter with the declaration: "I, John W. King, remain White and Proud."

Berry, 23, whose engraved wrench was found near Byrd's body, was the only defendant to give a statement about events leading to Byrd's death. But his statement is legally inadmissible unless he testifies, and his attorney says he won't permit Berry on the stand without a plea agreement.

King, Berry and the third man accused of Byrd's murder, Lawrence Russell Brewer, 31, were roommates.

Jurors and spectators entering the courthouse passed through newly-acquired metal detectors. One woman was arrested when she tried to pass through a detector while carrying a gun. Security at the courthouse was increased following the incident.

The murder also attracted media attention to the East Texas timber town just west of the Louisiana border.

"People are afraid of you guys," Gray told reporters Sunday. "They're afraid of having their pictures taken. They're afraid of being interviewed. And they're afraid of serving on a big case like this with a lot of attention."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.