Man condemned for dragging death requests execution date
BEAUMONT, Texas (AP) -- One of two white men sentenced to death for chaining a black man to a pickup truck and dragging him until he died has asked a judge for an execution date.
Lawrence Russell Brewer, in a letter dated April 2, said his request was not because of "so-called guilt on my behalf, but rather the inactions of the counsel I've had thus far," the Beaumont Enterprise reported Thursday.
Brewer, John William King and Shawn Allen Berry were convicted of the 1998 dragging death of James Byrd Jr. along a country road near Jasper, about 115 miles northeast of Houston.
Brewer and King were sentenced to death for the racial hate crime that shocked the United States. Berry was sent to prison for life.
"Due to the continuous appointment of faulty state selected attorneys whom are vigorously preserving the state's guilty theory of my person, I think it's about time that we bypass all these childish games and make the necessary arrangements for an execution date Sir," Brewer wrote in his letter to state District Judge Monte Lawlis.
Lawlis said he was looking into Brewer's request.
"I know [the case] is in the federal system, so I'm not certain about whether he can make that request," the judge told the Enterprise.
Brewer also filed a letter in January in federal court, saying he no longer was interested in appeals because he did not trust his court-designated lawyers.
Brewer's attorney, James Delee, did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press seeking comment Thursday.
Copyright 2004 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
