Execution Report: Lawrence Brewer

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A jury convicted Brewer of capital murder in September 1999 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in April 2002. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

The other two defendants were tried in Jasper. John William King was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. He is currently on death row. Shawn Allen Berry was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison. He remains in custody as of this writing.

"I know in my heart, I participated in assaulting him," Brewer said in an interview from death row about six weeks before his execution. "I had nothing to do with the killing, as far as the dragging, or driving the truck, or anything ... I literally seen Shawn Berry use a knife to cut Byrd's throat."

During the interview, Brewer explained that his views on race were formed in prison, where he witnessed blacks and Mexicans commit brutal beatings on others. He joined a white prison gang because "I just wanted to be around white people," he said. He also showed the reporter some of the tattoos on his arm: "Confederate flag, a cross burning, an intertwined KKK ..."

"I wouldn't consider it white supremacist," he said, "more of a separatist. Like you do your thing, and we do our thing."

Brewer supported the death penalty, even though he thought he didn't deserve it. "I'm for the death penalty. I feel that if you take a life you should pay for it by taking your own life, if you're actually guilty of taking a life."

Despite his claim of innocence, Brewer was not angry about his fate. "This is a good out for me," he said. "I don't want a life sentence, period, with or without parole. I wouldn't be happy with that ... I'm glad it's about to come to an end," he said.

Billy Rowles, who was the Jasper County sheriff when Byrd was killed, disagreed with Brewer's account of Byrd's murder. "There was absolutely no throat cut," he said.

The state of Texas has traditionally allowed condemned inmates to request a last meal. Prior to his execution, Brewer requested two chicken fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, fried okra, a pound of barbecue, three fajitas, a meat lover's pizza, a pint of ice cream, and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts. After the meal arrived, he told prison officials he was not hungry and declined to eat any of it.

"No. I have no final statement," Brewer replied when asked if he had any last words. While lying on the gurney, he looked toward the witness room occupied by his parents and brother. He did not look at the victim's two sisters and niece, who were in an adjoining room. The lethal injection was started at 6:11 p.m. He was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m.

Although Brewer was not the first condemned prisoner to lose his appetite after ordering a feast for his last meal, this instance hit a nerve with state senator John Whitmire, who wrote a letter to Brad Livingston, the executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, urging him to end the "last meal of choice" tradition. Whitmire wrote that he would seek a state law to prohibit the "ridiculous" practice if it continued.

"Mr. Byrd didn't get to choose his last meal. The whole deal is so illogical," Whitmire told a reporter.

Director Livingston concurred. "Effective immediately," he replied, "no such accommodations will be made. They will receive the same meal served to other offenders on the unit."

By David Carson. Posted on 23 September 2011.
Sources: Texas Attorney General's office, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, court documents, Associated Press, CBS News, Christian Post, Houston Chronicle, KFDM-TV.