ATLANTA (AP) - A white supremacist who tried to start a race war by murdering interracial couples in the late 1970s has admitted that he is responsible for a 1978 Atlanta slaying. Joseph P. Franklin, 49, who also shot Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt, told Atlanta police investigators last week that he shot an interracial couple in February 1978 in a northeast Atlanta neighborhood.

Franklin said he shot Johnny Brookshire and Joy L. Williams. The 22-year-old Brookshire, who was black, died from his wounds. His wife, who was 23 at the time, was paralyzed from the waist down.

``Franklin admitted that most of his homicides were racially motivated,'' Sgt. Keith Meadows of the Atlanta Police Department said Monday. ``He would see a black male and a white female walking down the street and he would assault them both.''

Franklin has been convicted of nine murders from Tennessee to Utah.

He is now on death row at the Potosi Correctional Center in Missouri, facing execution for the 1977 sniper killing of a Jewish man who was leaving a synagogue. He also has been sentenced to life in prison in other states for as many as 18 racially motivated shootings.

The drifter from Mobile, Ala., said he shot Flynt in 1978 because he was enraged by pornographic photos of interracial couples published in Hustler. Georgia officials decided not to prosecute Franklin for the shooting, which took place in Lawrenceville and left Flynt paralyzed.

Meadows said he did not expect any charges against Franklin following his confession because he is already on death row.

Franklin decided to speak with Atlanta detectives because he enjoys the attention, Meadows said. He spoke only after police agreed to bring a ``pretty woman'' for him to look at during the interview.

``We had to stop off at the local sheriff's department and pick up one of the female deputies,'' Meadows said.

[It should have been a pretty BLACK woman - Ed.]