Who was Brent Ray Brewer? Death row inmate's last words expressed remorse for victim he killed 34 years ago
HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS: Brent Ray Brewer was executed by the state of Texas on Thursday, November 9, for the robbery and murder of Robert Doyle Laminack in Amarillo, Texas, in 1990.
Brewer, 53, was convicted of the murder of Robert Laminack, 66. Laminack was driving Brewer and his girlfriend to an Amarillo Salvation Army site on May 8, 1990. During the ride, Brewer stabbed the victim in the neck.
Prosecutors said he and his then-girlfriend, Krystie Lynn Nystrom, stole Laminack's wallet, which contained $140, and fled the scene.
Brewer was found guilty and sentenced to death in 1991. His case was later overturned and sent for retrial. He was sentenced to death again in 2009.
On Thursday, November 9, Brewer executed at a state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas.
As Brewer faced his execution, his final words expressed remorse for the murder, as he said, “I hope you find peace."
What happened on the day of the murder?
Brewer reached forward from the passenger seat and fatally stabbed Laminack with a butterfly knife, according to prosecutors.
Following the murder, the pair visited a friend's apartment to change their bloody clothes and subsequently proceeded to Red Oak, Texas, where they faced arrest on May 8, 1990.
The inmate, who was 19 when Laminack was killed, had been a well-behaved prisoner with no violent incidents in his 34 years of incarceration.
“Even though it's 33 years ago, I don't even know where to begin. Now, how do you fix something that can't be fixed? The 53-year-old guy you're looking at now is not the 19-year-old I was in April of 90. I don't even know that kid. How do you explain stabbing somebody and then running off and you don't know what happened until later on?” Brewer said in his bid for mercy.
“When you're 19, 20 and you're confused, or you're on drugs, or you're drinking, or you're hanging around the wrong people, you have no real value system. I guess you'd call it a moral compass,” he said. “I sobered up in the county jail and realized that I had done something I can't undo, and I had to live with that every day.”
Brewer revealed his involvement in a faith-based program for death row inmates in September 2022, aiming to become a better person.
He earned certificates for completing program courses by attending classes and doing assignments.
The inmate has also expressed remorse for the killing and a desire to apologize to Laminack’s family.
“Words are kind of small when you have taken someone's life and when someone is permanently gone like that,” Brewer said. “I don't even know if they wanna hear that.”
“But that's something I'd like to tell them personally. Even if it doesn't change that outcome, I'd like them to hear it before I go,” he said in tears.
Brewer wrote in a letter to Laminack´s family: “I will never be able to repay or replace the hurt (and) worry (and) pain I caused you. I come to you in true humility and honest heart and ask for your forgiveness.”
False testimony landed him on death row
On Thursday afternoon, the US Supreme Court dismissed Brewer's final appeal, which contended that the death sentence was the result of invalid testimony from a discredited psychiatrist.
“The main reason he was sentenced to death is because the state presented unreliable and false evidence from a guy named Dr Richard Coons, who they have used in multiple cases in Texas. And Dr. Coons has basically been found by the courts to be an unreliable witness,” Brewer’s attorney Shawn Nolan told TPR.
“His testimony and his science has been found to be junk science.”
According to Nolan, Coons' testimony was invalid because he never examined Brewer to determine his mental health status as required by the regulations.
The said regulations mandate that doctors should carry out a physical examination before testifying about somebody's mental health status. In this case, no such examination took place.
“Coons never met Brent, yet he got up on the stand and said that Brent had no conscience and that he would be a future danger to society, even in prison. That was just outrageous testimony.” Nolan said. “That should never have been presented to a court.”
During the trial, Nolan argued that Brewer did not pose a threat to society and thus didn't deserve the death penalty.
However, Brewer was tried again in 2009 and Coons testified a second time.
Despite this, the jury still favored the death penalty.
Recently, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted against commuting Brewer's sentence to a lesser punishment or granting him a six-month reprieve.
“We are deeply disturbed that the (appeals court) refuses to address the injustice of allowing Brent Brewer to be executed without an opportunity to challenge Dr. Coon's false and unscientific testimony,” said Nolan.
The defense argued that the jurors were not allowed to consider Brewer's childhood abuse and mental illness.
Brewer was the seventh inmate Texas has executed this year and he was the 21st person to be executed nationwide, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.