'Murderabilia' website owner banned from Texas prisons

On a cool February day in 1999, a crowd gathered outside the courthouse in the east Texas town of Jasper to watch as a phalanx of Texas Rangers escorted a man wearing a bullet-proof vest to a waiting prison van.

John King, an angry white supremacist covered with racist tattoos, had just been sentenced to death for the savage murder of James Byrd Jr., a black man who had been chained to the back of a pick-up truck and dragged to his death.

The people of Jasper, a small town traumatized by one of the most searing hate crimes since the Civil Rights era, were palpably relieved to see King ushered away to death row. Some of them cheerily cried out "goodbye," as though to taunt King with the idea they'd never seen him again.

That was fifteen years ago. Now the people of Jasper are seeing yet another picture of that same smiling, racist killer, one snapped inside the prison housing the Texas death row, up for auction on a murder memorabilia website.

"That's unbelievable, unacceptable to me," said Louvon Harris, one of Byrd's sisters. "And as a victim of a hate crime, I think that we've been slapped in the face."

Now Texas prison officials have banned G. William Harder, whose website offered the King photo for sale, from visiting any more inmates. They say he's been paying prisoners for memorabilia appearing on his site, a charge he flatly denies.

Harder, whose Facebook page shows photographs of him posing with King, admits he's paid "$30 to $40" to help King pay for toiletries and other necessities, but he says the payments weren't compensation for memorabilia. He describes his website, murderauction.com, as "an eBay of crime-related items" on which collectors buy and sell merchandise.

"I periodically send John King money, but I don't think I've sent him money in a year to a year and a half," Harder said. "I'm not paying anybody. It's just that simple. I'm not selling their items, so even if I do send them money, it's certainly not for the sale of anything.

The incident is just the latest development in the ongoing controversy over the macabre business of "murderabilia," souvenirs produced by and about notorious killers. A half-dozen websites based in the United States and Canada service a subculture of murder souvenir collectors amassing everything from signed letters to hair clippings from convicted killers , according to Andy Kahan, the Houston victim rights advocate who coined the term "murderabilia."

"There is absolutely nothing more nauseating or disgusting than to find out one of the persons who murdered your loved ones now has items being hocked by third parties for pure profit," Kahan said.

Texas lawmakers have tried various legal tactics to shut down these businesses, but the state can't regulate out-of-state websites. Federal legislative efforts championed by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) have repeatedly stalled in Congress.

"The problem is enforcement," Kahan said. "It's virtually impossible to enforce a Texas law when you have a California dealer or any other dealer from another state selling items from a Texas inmate."

Harder, who proudly shows off photographs he's taken with Charles Manson, argues he's merely exercising his rights by serving an unusual niche of crime aficionados. Nothing, he said, separates him from an author writing a true crime book, a television network airing crime documentaries or a broadcast reporter covering a lurid murder.

"Just because a segment of society doesn't like it, doesn't mean you can tell me I can't do it," Harder said. "I understand that there's victims attached to this. It's a sensitive subject, but I don't invite them. This is what this country was founded on: free enterprise and capitalism."

If Texas prison officials continue to ban him from visiting inmates, Harder said he plans to take the matter to court.