Upcoming Execution - Lester Leroy Bower, Jr

Lester Leroy Bower, Jr

On June 3rd, 2015 the State of Texas will execute one of death row's longest serving residents,  Lester Leroy Bower, Jr. Bower is no stranger to execution dates, he has had a staggering seven dates stayed or postponed in the past. Racking up a near record of over thirty years as a death row inmate, Bower was convicted of four counts of capital murder. 

On October 8th, 1983 Lester Bower, Jr shot and killed four men, Ronald Mayes, Bob Tate, Jerry Mac Brown and Phillip Good, in an ultralight aircraft hanger outside of Sherman, Texas. Prosecutors said Bower arranged to meet one of the men under the pretence of purchasing a $4000 ultralight the man had advertised for sale. It was further alleged by prosecutors that Bower, who had planned to kill one person, had no choice but to kill the other three men too when they turned up unexpectedly at the hanger. The men's bodies were found by law enforcement on one of the victim's ranches. A subsequent search of Bower's home in Arlington unearthed pieces of an ultralight plane that had been taken from the hanger. 

Evidence used during Bower's trial.

There are many people who believe Leroy Lester Bower, Jr is an innocent man. Before being found guilty of the four execution-style murders Bower had no previous criminal record. He was a well-respected, well-liked salesman who people described as 'mild-mannered' and devoted to his wife and two daughters. The jury at Bower's trial took just two hours to convict him of the murders, the following day they took a further two hours to sentence him to death. This was despite the fact the evidence presented during trial was purely circumstantial. The murder weapon was never found, there were no witnesses or finger print evidence placing Bower at the scene and there was no signed confession. The evidence during trial concentrated on two purchases of fire arms that Bower made in 1982. The ammunition purchased, Fiocchi .22-caliber bullets, was the same as those used in the killings. Among the evidence was a sledgehammer belonging to Bower, which prosecutors alleged he used to smash up evidence of his involvement in the murders. Books, mainly on pistols, gun parts and silencers, were also seized from Bower and used as evidence against him.

Bower admitted to owning a pistol similar to the one used in the murders, however he insists he lost the weapon in 1982. Further evidence during trial suggested that Bower's lost gun could not have been the one used to murder the men because it had a specific kind of firing pin. The distinctive marks you would expect the firing pin to leave on bullet casings were not found. In 1989, a woman called one of Lester Bower's attorneys saying that her ex-boyfriend and three of his friends were the ones responsible for the murders. The killings were the result of a dope deal gone wrong. The witnesses identity and those of the people she implicated are in a court sealed document. This information was dismissed by the prosecution as being nothing more than an attempt to delay punishment on the behalf of the defence team.

Bower in 1983

Bower has received stays in the past to allow certain pieces of evidence to undergo DNA testing, which was not available in 1984. So far, the results have not returned anything to indicate Lester Bower is innocent of the crimes for which he is convicted. Bower appears to have exhausted all possible avenues for appeal and in the last couple of days, a Federal Court appeal filed on his behalf was denied by the 5th Circuit court of appeals. No doubt the families of the four men murdered are looking forward to some sort of closure after 30 years. However, many believe that if Bower's execution goes ahead on June 3rd, it will be a true miscarriage of justice. 

Upcoming Execution: Robert Lynn Pruett. STAYED

Robert Lynn Pruett

ROBERT PRUETT HAS RECEIVED A STAY OF EXECUTION. MORE TO FOLLOW...

Tomorrow, Tuesday April 28th at 6.00pm CDT in Huntsville, the State of Texas will execute Robert Lynn Pruett. As of publication, all of Pruett's appeals have been unsuccessful. Robert Pruett's execution will go ahead unless the governor decides to grant clemancy, which is highly unlikely. It is a case of third time unlucky for Pruett, who has already had two executions dates (2013 and 2014) stayed.  

While I always try to cover upcoming executions, Robert Pruett's is a little more personal for me. Not only have I followed his case, like many, since watching the first airing of BBC documentary Life and Death Row but I started this blog because of his case. In the 12 months or so since I started following Robert Pruett's case, my opinion on his innocence has changed greatly. While I once believed he was completely innocent of killing Corrections Officer Daniel Nagle, I am no longer completely convinced. I guess that makes me something of a fence sitter. All I know is the BBC made the documentary to appeal to the average viewer, they only touched upon a tiny amount of information regarding the Pruett case. 

No physical contact is allowed for Death Row prisoners.

My opinion on the death penalty is also slowly changing. While I once was a huge supporter, I now find myself questioning just how effective it is. Tomorrow, IF Robert Pruett is executed there will be another family and group of loved ones mourning the loss of someone special because of murder. Will Daniel Nagle's family feel relief? retribution? at peace? My guess is they will feel exactly the same, after all executing Robert Pruett does not bring their son/father/husband/sibling/friend back. Daniel Nagle's sister even supported Pruett's application for clemancy, saying that while she could never forgive Pruett for her brother's death she didn't see how someone else dying would make things better. It is life's simplest rule - two wrongs don't make a right. 

The video below is an episode from the Life and Death Row series screened by BBC 3 in May 2014. This the one Robert Pruett appeared in and I have included it so those who haven't seen the programme can see it for themselves. This episode is titled 'Crisis Stage' and follows two inmates whose execution dates are imminent. 

Watch the BBC3 Documentary featuring Robert Pruett here.

Huntsville, Texas

                                     

Debra Jean Milke - Innocent or Guilty?

Debra Jean Milke

In 1989, a newly divorced Debra Milke moved into an apartment with her young son and a James Styers, a friend of Milke's sister. On December 2nd 1989, James Styers took Milke's four-year-old son Christopher to the mall. They had been gone a few hours when Milke received a phonecall from Styers telling her Christopher had 'disappeared' during a restroom visit at the mall. Debra Milke told him to inform mall security and continue looking for her son, while she dialled 911 to notify law enforcement. Some 24-hours later police arrested a long-term friend of Styers, a Roger Scott, who preceded to take police out to the desert where they were to found little Christopher Milke dead with three bullet wounds to his head. Roger Scott immediately pointed the finger at James Styers telling police Styers had murdered Christopher on Milke's say so. 

The following day, due to the implication by Scott, Jim Styers was arrested. Debra Milke went to the Pinal County Sheriff's office voluntarily, where she was told to wait in the jail dispensary. Called in on his day off lead case detective, Armando Saldate arrived via helicopter to interview Milke. Apparently, all other detectives had been told not to acknowledge or talk to her. After telling Milke's aqquaintance, who she had brought along for moral support, to wait outside Detective Saldate took Milke into another room. Here he was to begin interrogating her, with  no other witness or even a tape recorder present. Three days later, Detective Saldate submitted a report indicating that, in his prescence, Milke had confessed she had wanted her son dead and that she had been the main instigator behind his murder. The reason Milke had wanted her son dead, she didn't want him to grow up to be like his father who suffered with alcohol and drug problems. There was no taped or written confession, Saldate was the only witness to Milke's apparent confession. Despite this, Debra Milke was charged with child abuse, kidnapping, conspiracy to committ first degree murder and first degree murder. During her trial, prosecutors relied largely on the 'confession' that Detective Saldate insisted Debra Milke had given him. They told the jury that on the day of her son's death, Milke had dressed him in his favourite outfit and told him he was going with a friend to see Santa at the mall. Instead, little Christopher Milke was taken to the desert and executed, shot three times in the back of the head by Scott and Styers. There involvement apparently, was due to the promise of a share in £5000 life insurance Debra Milke told them she would get in the event of Christopher's death. In October 1990, Debra Jean Milke was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to death. Roger Scott and James Styers were also found guilty and sentenced to death as well.

Christopher Milke

Debra Milke was to sit on death row for the next eighteen years before the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona decided to file an amicus brief on her behalf. The brief questioned how reliable Milke's confession could be considering it was both unrecorded and uncorrobated. After nearly two years, in September 2009, the Ninth Circuit of Appeals found there was no evidence that Milke had voluntarily waived her Miranda rights before speaking to Detective Saldate. The court ordered the Federal Court Judge give Debra Milke a new trial. Suprisingly, the judge ruled against Milke, insisting there was little evidence to prove her Miranda rights had been removed involuntarily. He felt the conviction was constitutionally sound and threw out her attorney's requests for a new trial. Despite this, her attorney's were to continue appealing and, in March 2013, The U.S Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that Debra Milke's defence team were deprived of vitally important information during trial. 

Despite Detective Saldate's repeatedly stating that Debra Milke had waived all her Miranda rights voluntarily at the start of her interview and had gone on to confess her motive and role in the murder, Milke had always stated she requested an attorney at the beginning of the interview. The court ruled that evidence produced in court was little more than Milke's word against Detective Saldate's. In addition, important evidence that questioned Detective Saldate's crediabilty was withheld by the state. The fact that, on four previous occasions it was found Detective Saldate lied while under oath and he had also had countless confessions thrown out because he had failed to follow procedure during interrogation were withheld from Milke's defence. The state had chosen to keep Saldate's history quiet. Had the jury been aware of Saldate's past indiscretions they may have been less likely to take his word over that of Debra Milke. For that reason, both Milke's conviction and sentence were overturned. Milke walked out of the prison she had called home for 24 years in September 2013. In March 2015, after much appealing on behalf of the state and Debra Milke, she was completely exonerated with the court ruling that prosecutors could not retry Milke for murder under double jeopardy laws. 

Of course, just because Debra Milke's conviction was eventually tossed does not mean she wasn't guilty of the crime. Many people seem to assume Milke was released because she was found innocent, this is not the case at all. She was released because the state did not fufill its burden to prove she had committed murder beyond a reasonable doubt. Furthermore, her conviction relied solely on the evidence of a Detective whose track record for honesty was less than desirable. A record the state had a duty to provide to the defence team, whether they asked for it or not. While there is no denying Detective Saldate was the only person to testify in the Milke case, other things were brought up that may have helped the jury decide to convict. For instance, while waiting for their trials Debra Milke and James Styers kept in regular contact by letter. In not one of these letters did Milke talk about Christopher, she didn't express grief at his loss or even offer memories of her son. Instead, she chose to write about how fattening the prison food was. She also wrote in another letter 'if I get convicted Jim, I may as well kill myself. If I have to stay in prison for the rest of my life, what do I have to live for?' There was no anger at a potential miscarriage of justice, no mention that her life was over because of the loss of her son. No, Milke just wrote about herself. In a report sent to the judge during Milke's 1991 sentencing, her own father, himself a corrections officer in Florida, wrote ' Debra should never have been allowed to be a mother. If she is let out and goes on to have more children then she will keep murdering'. Debra Milke's own sister went on record as saying she had seen Milke be abusive to Christopher on more than one occasion. She referred to one time when Milke had locked a naked Christopher out of the house as punishment for messing his pants. Another incident she recalled, saw Milke deliberately withheld medicine from her small son because she was furious he had been sick. Her sister also said Milke was well known for given false or incorrect contact information to daycare personnel and babysitters, so she could avoid the responsibility of being a mother for longer. While none of this proves Debra Milke murdered her own son, it certainly paints a picture of someone who could well be capable of it. 

Today, Milke lives in a house bought for her through donations from her many supporters. She is currently pursuing damages from the state on the grounds that she was the victim of a malicious prosecution, which led to a gross miscarriage of justice. There is no denying that Milke's case was handled terribly by officials from the very beginning. However, do you think Milke was unfairly imprisoned for 24 years, or do you think she managed to get away, eventually, with murder?

Both Roger Scott and James Styers remain on death row with limited appeals remaining. 

Debra Milke Cannot be Retried for Murder.