Billy Ray Cobb & Pete Williard

Biography
Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard were born in Canton, Mississippi in, growing up in a rural white family. Cobb was the son of Cora Mae Cobb and the younger brother of Freddie Lee Cobb ad him and Pete Willard grew up to be best friends.

Both became white supremacist and spent much of their time committing hateful acts against the African-American community. In 1984, the two of them drunkenly drove around in their pickup truck, throwing beer bottles at black families, and they later came across the ten-year-old Tonya Hailey walking home from the local store with bags of groceries.

Cobb threw a beer bottle at Tonya's head, and the two men proceeded to rape her in the back of their truck before attempting to lynch her.

They failed, and they were later arrested by Sheriff Ozzie Walls. Whereas Willard showed some remorse for his crime, Cobb showed no remorse and seemed proud of his abominable action.

After it became likely that the two men would be acquitted by an all-white jury, the girl's father Carl Lee Hailey entered the courthouse with an M16 and opened fire on Willard and Cobb as they were escorted up the courthouse steps by policeman Dwayne Looney.

Willard and Cobb were killed, while Looney was wounded by a ricocheting bullet. The murders of Cobb and Willard led to Hailey being put on trial, and later acquitted, due to the efforts of Jake Brigance.

