Brent Ray Brewer, a 53-year-old Texas man convicted of the 1990 murder of Robert Laminack during a robbery, was executed Thursday evening, according to CBS News.
Brewer’s claims of false and unscientific expert testimony contributing to his death sentence were not enough to sway the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to intervene just hours before the scheduled execution. The execution was carried out by lethal injection and took place at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, CBS News reported. (RELATED: State Supreme Court Rules Officials Can Use Nitrogen Gas For Inmate Execution)
A Texas man who said his death sentence was based on false and unscientific expert testimony was executed Thursday evening for killing a man during a robbery decades ago. https://t.co/neB0LwFYGN
— CBS News (@CBSNews) November 10, 2023
The incident occurred when Laminack, 66, offered Brewer and his girlfriend a ride to a Salvation Army location in Amarillo, according to prosecutors.
The prosecution argued that Brewer robbed Laminack of $140 and stabbed him in the neck. Brewer’s legal team contended that the prosecution’s reliance on the testimony of expert witness Richard Coons, who claimed Brewer would be a future danger, was flawed and unscientific. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed an appeal on this matter earlier in the week, stating it should have been raised earlier, CBS News reported.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, in a 7-0 vote, rejected commuting Brewer’s death sentence to a lesser penalty and also denied a six-month reprieve. Brewer, who was 19 at the time of the crime, asserted he had been a model prisoner with no history of violence, participating in a faith-based program for death row inmates.
Despite expressing remorse for Laminack’s killing and seeking forgiveness in a letter to the victim’s family, Brewer’s execution proceeded, CBS added.