texas death row | My Crime Library

Allen Bridgers Texas Death Row

Allen Bridgers was sentenced to death by the State of Texas for the murder of his girlfriend. According to court documents Allen Bridgers was living with the victim when he pulled out a gun and fatally shot her in the throat. Allen Bridgers would take the victims car and a number of belongings from the home before fleeing. Allen Bridgers would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Allen Bridgers 2022 Information

SID Number: 05918398

TDCJ Number: 00999267

Name: BRIDGERS,ALLEN

Race: B

Gender: M

Age: 50

Maximum Sentence Date: DEATH ROW

Current Facility: POLUNSKY

Projected Release Date: DEATH ROW

Parole Eligibility Date: DEATH ROW

Inmate Visitation Eligible: YES

Allen Bridgers More News

On May 25, 1997, the body of Mary Amie was discovered by her niece at her home in Tyler, Texas.¹ That same day Bridgers flew from the Dallas-Fort Worth airport to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Three days later on May 28, Detective Charles Morrow of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department received information from Crime Stoppers regarding a possible suspect wanted in Texas for murder. Detective Morrow had no prior knowledge of the Texas murder and did not contact Texas authorities. Rather, he accompanied the individual who had provided the information to Crime Stoppers to the Holiday Park area of Fort Lauderdale. The confidential informant pointed out Bridgers as the person who admitted that he had murdered a woman in Texas.

Detective Morrow waited for additional detectives to arrive and then approached Bridgers, who was lying in the grass. Detective Morrow testified that there were seven plainclothes officers in the vicinity but could not remember how many approached Bridgers. Morrow testified that his badge, gun, and handcuffs were displayed and that it was obvious he was a police officer. Upon approaching Bridgers, Detective Morrow stated that he was conducting an investigation and asked Bridgers to accompany him to the police station. At the suppression hearing, Detective Morrow testified that Bridgers was “nervous, but cooperative” and agreed to go to the police station for questioning, saying “Okay. That’s fine. Let’s go.” He also testified that if Bridgers had refused to accompany him to the station, he would have detained Bridgers and questioned Bridgers in the park. Bridgers was handcuffed and transported to the station in an unmarked car.

Upon arrival at the Fort Lauderdale police station, Detective Morrow obtained Bridgers’s driver’s license which identified him as Allen Bridgers. Next, Detective Morrow took him to the interview room to meet with Detectives Jack King and Jack Gee. Detective Gee had obtained a fax of a warrant for Bridgers’s arrest dated May 27 from the Smith County Sheriff’s Department. According to Detective Morrow’s testimony, it was at this point that Bridgers was under arrest.

When the detectives entered the room, they introduced themselves to Bridgers, and Detective King warned Bridgers from a card issued by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. The card read as follows:

You have the right to remain silent. Do you understand? Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Do you understand?

You have the right to the presence of an attorney/lawyer prior to any questioning. Do you understand?

If you cannot afford an attorney/lawyer, one will be appointed for you before any questioning if you so desire. Do you understand?

Allen Bridgers responded affirmatively to each question posed to him. He indicated that he was not sure whether he wanted an attorney. He did ask and was permitted to speak to his mother. After he received the warnings, Bridgers was asked if he knew why he was there and responded that Texas thought he had killed someone. Detective King asked, “Did you?” and Allen Bridgers said, “Yes, you’ve got the right guy.”

After Bridgers finished talking with his mother, the detectives activated the tape recorder and administered the warnings a second time. Then Bridgers gave the audio taped confession at issue in which he admitted murdering Mary Amie and taking her purse, jewelry, and car. He requested two short stops and both requests were honored. Both Detectives King and Gee testified that Bridgers did not appear to be under the influence of any substances and his mental capacity did not seem diminished in any way. They also denied threatening Bridgers or promising him anything in return for his statement.

Prior to trial, Bridgers filed a motion to suppress his confession. The state trial court held a hearing on the motion and denied it. Ultimately, Bridgers’s audio taped confession was admitted at trial over objection. The jury convicted Bridgers of capital murder, and he was sentenced to death. On his automatic direct appeal, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his conviction and sentence. Bridgers v. State of Texas, No. 73,112 (Tex.Crim.App. October 25, 2000) (unpublished).

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-5th-circuit/1492424.html

Brent Brewer Texas Death Row

Brent Brewer was sentenced to death by the State of Texas for a robbery murder. According to court documents Brent Brewer and an accomplice asked the victim for a ride to a Salvation Army. Along the way Brent Brewer would pull out a knife and told the victim to pull over which the victim did and Brewer proceeded to stab him to death. Brent Brewer would rob the victim before fleeing. Brent Brewer would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Brent Brewer execution is scheduled for November 9 2023

Brent Brewer 2022 Information

SID Number: 04329958

TDCJ Number: 00999000

Name: BREWER,BRENT RAY

Race: W

Gender: M

Age: 51

Maximum Sentence Date: DEATH ROW

Current Facility: POLUNSKY

Projected Release Date: DEATH ROW

Parole Eligibility Date: DEATH ROW

Inmate Visitation Eligible: YES

Brent Brewer More News

A convicted Amarillo killer is making another run at having his sentence changed after jurors sentenced him to death for stabbing another man and killing him more than 20 years ago.

Brent Ray Brewer was convicted of killing 66-year-old Robert Laminack in 1990. Although originally sentenced to death, that ruling was overturned in 2007, reducing his sentence to life in prison. But Brewer was back in court in 2009 for a retrial and new sentencing. For the second time, Randall County District Attorney James Farren sought the death penalty and for the second time, a jury agreed.

But even now, in 2013, the case still has not rested with Brewer back in court this week searching once again to have his sentence reduced.

“The appellant is arguing that he did not receive effective assistance of council.”

Again, after spending two days in court, documentation will be sent to the Criminal Court of Appeals to determine if a third retrial is necessary, An option Farren said is not only extremely costly, but also redundant and unnecessary.

“Its the whole process of 20 years of appeals and writs and expert witnesses and additional attorneys, just the cost of paper alone is probably considerable,” Farren explained. “We believe if we pick 12 more jurors, they’ll reach the same decision. Everybody needs a resolution to these things and we ought to be able to get there in less than two decades.”

https://www.newschannel10.com/story/23225112/convicted-amarillo-killer-back-in-court-looks-for-new-sentence/

Anthony Bartee Texas Death Row

Anthony Bartee was sentenced to death by the State of Texas for a murder committed during a robbery. According to court documents Anthony Bartee was attempting to steal his friends Harley Davidson motorcycle when his friend attempted to stop him. Anthony Bartee would stab the victim in the back before shooting him in the head. Anthony Bartlee would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Anthony Bartee 2022 Information

SID Number: 02368510

TDCJ Number: 00999282

Name: BARTEE,ANTHONY

Race: B

Gender: M

Age: 64

Maximum Sentence Date: DEATH ROW

Current Facility: ESTELLE

Projected Release Date: DEATH ROW

Parole Eligibility Date: DEATH ROW

Inmate Visitation Eligible: YES

Anthony Bartee More News

A San Antonio man convicted of stabbing his friend in the back before killing him with a gunshot to the head so he could steal the man’s prized Harley Davidson escaped his own execution for the second time Wednesday.

Anthony Bartee, 55, was scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m., but because of a civil rights lawsuit filed by his Houston-based attorney David Dow against the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office, Bartee will not be facing the gurney again until after May 10, according to Bexar County officials.

He was convicted for the robbery and murder of David Cook, 37, in 1996.

Upon hearing the news Bartee reportedly called out “yes, yes” and then thanked his supporters, according to Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

“I’d like to thank everyone for supporting me through these trials and tribulations,” Bartee said in a statement to Clark. “Put peace in your heart. God is working through all of us. God bless us all.”

In the legal wrangling that is typical of capital cases, Dow filed a flurry of appeals Wednesday, all of which were denied, including by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The appeals dealt with what Dow said was DNA testing that had not been completed. It was the same issue that won Bartee his first stay just days before his original execution date of Feb. 28.

A judge granted a reprieve in that instance to allow for additional mitochondrial DNA testing of hairs found on Cook’s hand. Last week, a district court judge ruled that all testing previously ordered had been completed, that the court’s order was therefore fulfilled and the results from the tests, that the hairs matched Cook’s DNA profile, would not have altered the trial or the outcome. Because of that, Bartee’s newly set date of Wednesday at 6 p.m. was not withdrawn.

Wednesday’s last-minute lawsuit filed by Dow argues that his client’s civil rights were violated when prosecutors opted not to test glasses and cigarette butts gathered as evidence from Cook’s house

With fewer than four hours until Bartee would be put to death, Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, based in San Antonio, granted a stay in response to the civil rights suit brought by Dow against District Attorney Susan Reed. The DA’s Office appealed that ruling to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which decided Wednesday night that additional briefs needed to be filed by both sides.

First Assistant District Attorney Cliff Herberg said the trial courts as well as higher courts already have affirmed the conviction, and the most recent decision concerning the newest DNA results.

“This is a meritless defense tactic that is designed to do nothing but delay the execution,” Herberg said. “They’ve had 15 years to seek to test this evidence, and the fact is it wouldn’t prove anything one way or another. This is not a DNA case. It’s not an issue.”

DNA wasn’t what convicted Bartee and it won’t exonerate him, prosecutors have argued in response to the multiple appeals. They say Bartee changed his story, was seen on Cook’s motorcycle, lied to friends about how he got the bike, and before the killing told people he wanted to “ace a white dude named David.”

Rico Valdez, an assistant district attorney in the Appeals Division, said the court asked for their briefs by May 8 and the response from Dow by May 10. Even after the 5th Circuit ruling, however, that opinion can also be appealed to the Supreme Court.

For now, with no action by the court, Biery’s order for the stay of execution remains in place and the execution warrant expires at midnight. A new date will have to be set, Valdez said.

The news angered Cook’s family, several of whom traveled to Huntsville, including his father Marvin Cook, two sisters and a brother-in-law.

“I think it’s unfair,” said sibling Linda Cook, 46, who stayed in San Antonio with her daughter. “Our family is going to have to endure even more of this but in the end it won’t matter. It’s just a delay not the end. We will see justice for my brother’s murder.”

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Convicted-killer-s-death-postponed-3528746.php

John Balentine Texas Death Row

John Balentine was sentenced to death by the State of Texas for the murders of three people. According to court documents John Balentine would break into a home and shoot and kill the three victims while they slept. John Balentine would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

John Balentine was executed on February 8 2023

John Balentine 2023 Information

SID Number:    05995622

TDCJ Number:    00999315

Name:    BALENTINE,JOHN LEZELL

Race:    B

Gender:    M

Age:    52

Maximum Sentence Date:    DEATH ROW

Current Facility:    POLUNSKY

Projected Release Date:    DEATH ROW

Parole Eligibility Date:    DEATH ROW

Inmate Visitation Eligible:    YES

John Balentine More News

An ex-con suspected in a triple homicide in the Texas Panhandle spent six months on the lam before a broken taillight gave him away.

John Balentine gave the officer who pulled him over a false name, but it showed up as an alias he often used. He was arrested in Houston — 600 miles from a tiny house in Amarillo where the killings took place — and later confessed. Prosecutors said the slayings were the result of a feud between Balentine and his ex-girlfriend’s brother.

The 42-year-old former auto mechanic and laborer is scheduled for lethal injection Wednesday in the nation’s most active death penalty state. His execution is to be followed Thursday by that of Lee Andrew Taylor, a 32-year-old convicted of stabbing another inmate. Balentine would be the fifth prisoner executed in Texas this year.

The Arkansas native avoided a trip to the death chamber nearly two years ago when a federal appeals court halted his execution a day before it was scheduled to take place. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted its reprieve in November, clearing the way for the execution to be reset.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to review Balentine’s case, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected another appeal Tuesday. His attorney, Lydia Brandt, went back to the high court Tuesday, arguing Balentine had shoddy legal help in the early stages of his appeals that neglected to show he had equally deficient attorneys at his trial.

“Each of the defense attorneys waived all of John’s rights to a fair trial and a fair appeal,” she said.

Balentine refused to speak with reporters as his execution date neared. Originally from Newport, Ark., he had a lengthy criminal record involving burglary, kidnapping, assault and robbery in his native state before he was arrested in the January 1998 slayings in Amarillo. As a 15-year-old, he broke into a high school ROTC building and stole rifles and military fatigues.

He was convicted of murder and sentenced to die in Texas for fatally shooting Mark Caylor Jr., 17; Kai Brooke Geyer, 15; and Steven Watson, also 15. Caylor was the brother of Balentine’s former girlfriend, and prosecutors said a feud between Caylor and Balentine led to the shootings in a tiny house where Balentine also once lived. Evidence showed all three teens were shot once with a .32-caliber pistol as they slept.

In a tape-recorded statement to police played at his 1999 trial, Balentine said he moved out of the house because of drug use there. He said he learned later that Caylor was looking to kill him because he had “jumped on his sister.”

Balentine described slipping into the house and shooting each of the teens in the head.

“Mark had threatened my life, threatened my brother, girlfriend … waving a gun and talking about what he was going to do to me and whoever else come over there looking for me and stuff,” he told police.

He said he didn’t know the other two victims, Geyer and Watson.

A neighbor heard a gunshot and called police. When an officer responding to the call questioned Balentine, who was walking down the street about 50 yards from the house, he gave a false name. And when the officer found an unspent.32-caliber bullet in Balentine’s pocket, he let him go because it wasn’t illegal to carry a bullet.

Police didn’t learn about the triple homicide until later that day, and then it took them six months to catch up to Balentine.

Randy Sherrod, one of Balentine’s trial lawyers, said prosecutors offered him a life sentence in exchange for a guilty plea.

“We were tickled to death,” Sherrod recalled last week. “We had basically told him he would get the death penalty without question.”

Balentine turned down the deal, explaining he’d already spent time in prison and worried about “being stuck with other inmates” and feared “a shiv stuck in me.” John Balentine believed he’d be safer on death row, where inmates are isolated, Sherrod said.

“Made practical sense to me,” he said.

https://www.deseret.com/2011/6/14/20198084/arkansas-man-to-die-in-texas-for-killing-3-teens

Carlos Ayestas Texas Death Row

Carlos Ayestas was sentenced to death by the State of Texas for the murder of a woman during a robbery. According to court documents Carlos Ayestas would break into the woman’s home and in the process of robbing it would strangle the woman causing her death. Carlos Ayestas would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Carlos Ayestas 2022 Information

Name	Ayestas, Carlos Manuel
TDCJ Number	999240
Date of Birth	7/30/69
Date Received	9/17/97
Age (when Received)	28
Education Level (Highest Grade Completed)	12 years
Date of Offense	9/5/95
	Age (at the time of Offense)	26
	County	Harris
	Race	Hispanic
	Gender	Male
	Hair Color	Black
	Height (in Feet and Inches)	5′ 2″
	Weight (in Pounds)	166
	Eye Color	Brown
	Native County	Mexico
	Native State	Mexico

Carlos Ayesta More News

Carlos Ayestas was convicted of capital murder for murdering Santiaga Paneque during the course of committing or attempting to commit robbery or burglary. About two weeks before the murder Ayestas and a friend went to look at a car offered for sale by Anna McDougal, who lived across the street from Paneque. McDougal went inside her house for about 15 minutes while the men inspected the car. When she came back outside, McDougal saw the two men leaving Paneque’s house. When she asked what they were doing, the men told McDougal that Paneque called them over to look at some furniture she was trying to sell.

Paneque’s son, Elin, left the house at about 8:30 a.m. on September 5, 1995. He returned home for lunch at 12:23 p.m. and rang the doorbell, but there was no response. He put his key in the doorknob, but noticed that the door was unlocked. Upon entering, he saw that the room was ransacked and items were missing. The rest of the house was in much the same condition. Elin went to the house of a neighbor, Maria Diaz, and called 911. Upon returning to his house, he found his mother’ s body on the floor of the master bathroom. She had silver duct tape on her ankles. Elin returned to Diaz’s house and asked her to go make sure that his mother was dead. Diaz entered the Paneque house and called Ms. Paneque’s name. She found Ms. Paneque lying face down on the floor. Her face was a dark color and she was not breathing.

He stated that he specifically noted the time.

Detective Mark Reynolds of the Harri s County Sheriff’s Department testified that the house was ransacked but bore no signs of forced entry. Paneque’s body was face down in a pool of blood and vomit. Her wrists were bound with the cord from an alarm clock and then wrapped in silver duct tape. She also had duct tape over her eyes and around her neck. Reynolds also testified that it was apparent that Paneque was beaten. Her face was swollen and covered with cuts and bruises. Reynolds showed neighbors photographs of two suspects, and McDougal identified them as the same two men who were in Paneque’s house about two weeks before the murder. One of the suspects was Petitioner and the other was Frederico Zaldivar.

An autopsy conducted by Dr. Marilyn Murr, an assistant medical examiner for Harris County, revealed that Paneque suffered multiple blows while she was still alive, resulting in numerous bruises and lacerations. She had fractured bones in her right elbow and neck, and bruises on each side of her pelvic area, just above the hips. An internal examination revealed extensive hemorrhaging in the neck and head. She had another fracture, caused by a “significant amount of force,” in the roof of the orbit containing her right eye. Dr. Murr determined that none of these injuries was substantial enough to kill Paneque. The cause of death was asphyxiation due to continual pressure applied to her neck for three to six minutes. Dr. Murr testified that her initial report indicated asphyxiation by ligature strangulation, but she reexamined the evidence shortly before trial at the request of the prosecutor. She then changed her conclusion to “asphyxiation due to strangulation,” which allowed for the possibility that a hand or hands might have caused the asphyxia.

Police recovered fingerprints from the crime scene. Two prints recovered from the tape around Paneque’s ankles, and two recovered from the roll of tape, matched Ayestas. On cross-examination the defense brought out that the two prints on the tape around Paneque’s ankles were only discovered shortly before trial, approximately 2 0 months after the murder, based on a reexamination undertaken at the prosecutor’s request.

Henry Nuila testified that he met Carlos Ayestas in mid-September 1995 at Ayestas’s sister’s house in Kenner, Louisiana. On September 20 an intoxicated Ayestas told Nuila that he was involved in the murder of a woman in Houston. Ayestas asked Nuila for help in killing the other two participants in the murder because “they had spoken too much.” Ayestas told Nuila that, if he declined, Ayestas would kill him.Carlos Ayestas brandished a gun. Nuila kept Ayestas talking until Ayestas passed out. Nuila then called the police. They arrested Ayestas, still in possession of the gun. Based on this evidence the jury found Ayestas guilty of capital murder for murdering Paneque during the commission or attempted commission of a burglary, robbery, or both.

https://casetext.com/case/ayestas-v-stephens-1