Lawrence Russell Brewer for dragging death of James Byrd - Polidicks

Source: [url]http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/21/justice/texas-dragging-death-execution/index.html?hpt=hp_t2[/url] [quote]Lawrence Russell Brewer was executed in Texas Wednesday evening for his involvement in the infamous dragging death of a black man 13 years ago. Brewer, 44, was one of three men convicted for involvement in the murder of James Byrd. He was executed by lethal injection at 6:21 p.m. local time (7:21 p.m. ET) Wednesday , according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Brewer ate a huge final meal, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark. It consisted of chicken fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a cheese omelet, a bowl of fried okra, barbeque, fajitas, pizza, and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts. After the meal, Brewer was given time to make phone calls to family and friends. Brewer and two other white men kidnapped the 49-year-old black man on the night of June 7, 1998. They chained him by the ankles to the back of a pickup truck and dragged him for 3 ½ miles down a country road near Jasper, Texas. Byrd died when he was decapitated after he hit a culvert. Prosecutors said the crime, which they described it as one of the most vicious hate crimes in U.S. history, was intended to promote Brewer's fledgling white supremacist organization. During his 1999 trial, they called Brewer a racist psychopath. Brewer was a former "Exalted Cyclops" of a racist prison gang affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan. He spent most of his adult life in prison for burglary, cocaine possession and parole violations. During the trial, Brewer took the witness stand and contended that he was a bystander, not a killer. He tearfully admitted being present when Byrd was dragged to his death but, he said, "I didn't mean to cause his death. I had no intentions of killing anybody." Brewer said accomplice John William King initiated the killing by fighting with Byrd. He also said the third defendant, Shawn Berry, slashed Byrd's throat and then chained him to Berry's pickup. Brewer admitted kicking Byrd and spraying Byrd's face with black paint. But he said it was a reflex action taken to try to break up the fight between Byrd and King. When Brewer was sentenced to death in 1999, Jasper County District Attorney Guy James Gray said that, while he did not personally favor the death penalty, it was necessary in Brewer's case. "This is a situation where if you don't give the death penalty to this man, he will kill again," said Gray. To impose the death penalty, the jurors in Brewer's trial had to answer three questions under Texas law: -- Would Brewer be a threat to society in the future; -- Did Brewer mean to kill Byrd; -- And, were there mitigating circumstances that would warrant sparing Brewer's life? To sentence Brewer to death, the jurors voted unanimously on each question -- answering the first two yes and the last no. The execution was the 11th this year in Texas, the most active death-penalty state. King also was sentenced to death and is awaiting the outcome of an appeal. The third man, Berry, was sentenced to life in prison. In 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law expanded hate crime legislation that was named after Byrd and Mathew Shepard, a gay Wyoming teenager who died after being kidnapped and severely beaten in October 1998.[/quote] Another execution.

As long as the death sentence is around, innocent people will die. [quote]Brewer ate a huge final meal, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark. It consisted of chicken fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a cheese omelet, a bowl of fried okra, barbeque, fajitas, pizza, and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts.[/quote] Good choice of food. But could had been a little more exotic.

[QUOTE=shian;32426176]As long as the death sentence is around, innocent people will die. Good choice of food. But could had been a little more exotic.[/QUOTE]That, and I would have gotten totally hammered. From what I have read, you can drink with your last meal.

I lived in a town called Kirbyville at the time James Byrd Jr. was killed, it's only about 30 kilometers or so south of Jasper. I remember when I was a kid, driving past the courthouse there and watching an absolute media circus unfold during the trial. I was too young at the time to really understand it all though. Now, looking back, I don't think I could easily forget that.

[QUOTE=Killer_Andre;32426530]I lived in a town called Kirbyville at the time James Byrd Jr. was killed, it's only about 30 kilometers or so south of Jasper. I remember when I was a kid, driving past the courthouse there and watching an absolute media circus unfold during the trial. I was too young at the time to really understand it all though. Now, looking back, I don't think I could easily forget that.[/QUOTE]Yeah it's bullshit. I'm tired of all the hate in the world.

[QUOTE=shian;32426176]As long as the death sentence is around, innocent people will die.[/QUOTE] Regardless of what people think about the Death Penalty, this guy was guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt.

[QUOTE=Killer_Andre;32426543]Regardless of what people think about the Death Penalty, this guy was guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt.[/QUOTE]Obviously, but it costs more to execute someone than it does to jail them for life. I say put him out with general population instead, let him play with the brothers. They'll teach him a thing or two.

Absolutely atrocious act by the "Justice System"

[quote]and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts.[/quote] Fuck, now I'm hungry.

Despicable act or no, his death did not reverse the action. He should have been rehabilitated, who knows what good he may have done with a second chance.

[QUOTE=StealthArcher;32426972]Despicable act or no, his death did not reverse the action. He should have been rehabilitated, who knows what good he may have done with a second chance.[/QUOTE]American prisons don't rehabilitate.

[QUOTE=faze;32426983]American prisons don't rehabilitate.[/QUOTE] Hence 'should have'. But hey, we all know how that works in the world.

[QUOTE=StealthArcher;32429782]Hence 'should have'. But hey, we all know how that works in the world.[/QUOTE]You said "he should have been rehabilitated" as in him sitting in prison for a while would fix him. That was a bit easy to misinterpret, that's all.

Why don't they just take them out to the noose the day they catch him if they have 100% unrefutable evidence such as video of the killing with his face.

About fucking time. If the races were reversed, this shit would have been over a decade ago.

[QUOTE=faze;32426983]American prisons don't rehabilitate.[/QUOTE] That's what they were intended to be. Instead its a giant cage for convicts. woo