Man sentenced to life in Byrd dragging death gets married

KFDM News has learned one of the three men convicted in the dragging death of James Byrd, Junior has gotten married to a Jasper County woman who says she fell in love with him. 

In November of 1999, Shawn Allen Berry was convicted of capital murder and received a life sentence.  Berry, who was 24 at the time of his conviction, must serve 40 years before he's eligible for parole. He's serving his sentence at a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison in the Brazoria County town of Rosharon. 

Two other men, John William King and Lawrence Russell Brewer, were convicted of capital murder in 1999 and sentenced to death for their roles in the 1998 dragging death.  

A woman from Jasper County confirmed to KFDM News she married Berry, by proxy, earlier this month.

KFDM has verified a marriage license was issued on January 6.

The marriage license is public record, but the woman has asked us not to release her name because of concerns she has about her safety.

The woman says she went to school with Berry in Kirbyville.  She's 32 years old and he's 33.

She told us she worked on a class reunion in 2007 and wrote to Berry, even though she knew he couldn't attend.

The two began writing to each other and she started visiting him in prison.

The woman told us she fell in love with Berry and they got married earlier this month by proxy. Someone stood in for Berry.

The woman told us she hopes he'll one day be released from prison and the two can be together.