The Billy Ray Johnson story

Billy Ray Johnson, a mentally retarded black man in Linden, Texas, was beaten and left for dead by four white men. But justice was finally done.

December 26, 2007

3 TOWNS: THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE

No black-and-white answers

Plotted on a map, the towns of Paris, Linden and Jena line up neatly along a 300-mile diagonal that falls across the Texas-Louisiana border.

July 30, 2007

TRIBUNE UPDATE

Beating victim's advocates face off

The first time Billy Ray Johnson was victimized, a group of white youths lured the mentally retarded black man to a party, made him dance for their entertainment as they hurled racial epithets, beat him unconscious and finally left him for dead beside a garbage dump.

April 21, 2007

$9 million award in beating case

Billy Ray Johnson was not in court Friday when a jury in the small east Texas town of Linden assessed $9 million in civil damages against the four white men who beat him unconscious and left him for dead beside a garbage dump.

June 5, 2005

Old South racism lives in Texas town

They picked up Billy Ray Johnson outside a convenience store in this East Texas bayou town, a place where Confederate flags fly in some front yards and a mural of barefoot slaves picking cotton greets patrons inside the local post office.