A Texas store owner defended himself with his own firearm when two hooded suspects attempted to rob his store at gunpoint on Nov. 2. But that’s not the only headline making waves in Texas. Brent Ray Brewer, a 53-year-old Texas inmate, is facing execution for a crime committed more than three decades ago.
Brewer was convicted of fatally stabbing Robert Laminack, 66, during a robbery in April 1990. The incident occurred when Laminack was giving Brewer and his girlfriend a ride to an Army location in salvation Prosecutors say Laminack was robbed of $140 and stabbed in the neck.
Brewer’s legal team has appealed to the US Supreme Court to halt the execution, arguing that the death sentence was based on the false and unscientific testimony of an expert witness, Richard Coons. Coons testified that Brewer would pose a future danger, a legal finding necessary to impose a death sentence. However, that appeal was dismissed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, stating that the claim should have been raised earlier.
Brewer, who was 19 at the time of Laminack’s murder, has maintained that he has been a model prisoner with no history of violence. He has also expressed remorse for the killing and a desire to apologize to Laminack’s family. Despite this, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted unanimously against commuting Brewer’s death sentence to a lesser sentence and also rejected a six-month suspension.
Brewer’s lawyers argue that Coons’ testimony was not only false but also had no scientific basis. They say Brewer, who was abused as a child and suffered from mental illness, posed no future danger because he had no history of violence in prison.
The case has sparked controversy, with one of the jurors at Brewer’s 2009 sentencing trial expressing regret for voting for execution because of a misleading instruction. State Representative Joe Moody has called it “morally wrong” for Brewer to be executed under these circumstances.
If the execution goes ahead, Brewer will become the seventh inmate in Texas and the 21st in the United States to be put to death this year. As the clock ticks down, the fate of Brent Ray Brewer hangs in the balance, highlighting the ongoing debate over the death penalty in the United States.
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