His final appeals were rejected Tuesday by the Court of Appeal. A 53-year-old American sentenced to death for murder and who spent more than 30 years on death row is awaiting execution Thursday in Texas, in the southern United States. His lawyers argued that the death sentence had been pronounced on the basis of the testimony of a psychiatric expert who had concluded that he was dangerous without having personally examined him and despite his “exemplary” behavior in prison, and that one of the jurors wishing to vote for life had been misled by the court’s instructions.
He was originally sentenced to death in 1991 for the murder the previous year of Robert Laminack, 66, who picked up Brent Brewer and his girlfriend, Krystie Lynn Nystrom, before stabbing the couple from behind. fleeing the scene of the crime with the victim’s wallet containing $140.
A majority of Americans favor the death penalty
The death sentence handed down in 1991 was overturned in 2007 by the Supreme Court of the United States, but confirmed during a new trial in 2009, notably on the basis of the testimony of the expert psychiatrist, subsequently considered unreliable. by the Texas courts to determine the “future dangerousness” of a convicted person. Brent Brewer is to be executed by lethal injection.
In its latest monthly survey on the fairness of the application of capital punishment, the Gallup Institute indicates that a majority of Americans (50% versus 47% of the opposite opinion in October) believe that it is unfairly applied in the United States, a first since the launch of this survey in 2000. A majority (53% in 2023) nevertheless remains in favor of the death penalty, according to the same source.
Twenty executions have already taken place in 2023 in the United States, including six in Texas, all carried out by lethal injection.