A couple of hours before the execution of Troy Davis, his perfect opposite, Lawrence Brewer, was killed with virtual indifference in the state of Texas. The racist murder for which he was found guilty had shocked the United States.
While the eyes of the entire world were riveted on Georgia, where Troy Davis awaited execution, another man sentenced to death received a lethal injection in Texas, with virtual indifference. The case of Troy Davis differed vastly from that of Lawrence Brewer. The latter, age 44, along with two other accomplices, was found guilty of a racist and sordid murder at the end of the 1990s.
A young delinquent, Brewer became a member of a racist, pro-white organization after a prison stay. Lawrence Brewer maintained until his last day that he did not regret the murder of the 49-year-old father of a black family. As a member of a movement for the abolition of the death penalty in Texas put it, Lawrence Brewer “is not a very nice person.”
On June 7, 1998, James Byrd, who did not have the means to buy himself a car, was walking in Jasper, a small Texas town of 7,000 inhabitants just 100 km from Houston. He was stopped by three men: John William King, Shawn Berry and Lawrence Brewer. Some 15 km later, the pickup stopped on an isolated road. James Byrd was beaten and lost consciousness. His legs were then attached to a chain connected to the vehicle.
The three men dragged the family man’s body nearly five kilometers on a country road, making sure to zigzag the vehicle so that the body was tossed from left to right. James Byrd, who regained consciousness, tried to protect himself by hoisting himself up on his forearms. But his elbows were quickly skinned to the bone. His head hit an obstacle in the road. He was beheaded on the spot. The three men left what remained of the body a few meters away.
“I’d Do It All Over Again”
John William King, Shawn Berry and Lawrence Brewer were arrested the day after the murder. The proof against them was overwhelming. Several objects belonging to them were found at the scene of the crime, and the blood of James Byrd was indentified on their clothes. John WIlliam King and Lawrence Brewer also openly displayed their affiliation with a racist group close to the Ku Klux Klan. The affair scandalized America, and the three men were given the highest penalties, respectively: death for King and Brewer, life in prison for Berry. Texas, in shock, adopted legislation for crimes motivated by hate (color of one’s skin, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities). It was reinstated in 2009 under federal law.
During his trial, Lawrence Brewer attempted to minimize his role in the murder of James Byrd. According to him, Shawn Berry had slit the family man’s throat and he himself did not realize that the man was attached to a chain when the car started. But these arguments proved weak against the hard evidence. Furthermore, Lawrence Brewer bragged about having done it, and that he and King were now “bigger stars than O.J. Simpson.”
Twelve years later, Lawrence Brewer never changed his story. He did however admit that he had “no regrets.” “I’d do it all over again, to tell you the truth,” he said on a local television channel the day before his execution. As for his execution, Brewer stated, “I’m willing to accept it. … That’s my punishment.”
The Victim’s Son Was against the Murderer’s Execution
Not everyone accepted this “just” decision — especially the victim’s family. “You can’t fight murder with murder,” explained James Byrd’s son. “Life in prison would have been fine. I know he can’t hurt my daddy anymore. I wish the state would take in mind that this isn’t what we want.” “He says he doesn’t want to ‘waste my time’ watching anybody die, even a man who killed his dad.”
Some anti-death penalty activists made the trip to stand outside the center of the penitentiary to show their opposition to the Lawrence Brewer’s execution. “I just don’t believe the state should have the right to kill people,” explained actor and civil rights activist Dick Gregory. “If you put a man in jail for life, that’s punishment. When you start killing people, that’s revenge. It’s crazy, and we let our government get by with it.”
Lawrence Brewer died on Wednesday at 6:21 p.m., 10 minutes after the beginning of the lethal injection. He did not wish to make a final statement.
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