in 1998 three young white men kill james byrd and jr. and a black man and by chain byrd to the back of their pickup truck and and then drive away at high speed down a back road in rural deep east texas . it be a horrible crime and one that be quickly and easily solve . this film tell the story of that real life event . sort of . the best part of jasper and texas be the performance of jon voight and a sheriff billy rowles and who investigate the crime . the film also present a credibly downbeat atmosphere of rural eastern texas . that say and i be disappoint with the screenplay . the story begin on the day after the killing and and except for occasional flashback and move forward and to chronicle the aftermath of the event and from the viewpoint of the town resident . what be a terrible personal tragedy be turn into a speech athon on race relation from represent local politician and the fbi and a citizen task force and the black panther and a white supremacy group and and others . the film cast be way too large and and the dialogue be inflate . and throughout this talky film and there the usual obnoxious behavior of the vulturous news medium . we never really get to know james byrd and jr. and . the victim . he be almost irrelevant . nor do we get any insight into the motivation of the three killer . the film thus mostly ignore the most relevant people and and chooses instead to tell the story of background people who talk endlessly around a sociology topic that have be talk to death . the entire film seem academic and impersonal and and emotionally uninvolved .