There is no objective source material in this record to substantiate methodology as one that is appropriate…”. The TCCA said “we cannot tell what principles of psychiatry might have relied upon because he cited no books, articles, studies or even other forensic psychiatrists. testified in 2008 (as he had in 1990) that the defendant would pose a future danger even though he had a spotless disciplinary record during 17 years on death row. That defendant was tried in 1990, had his death sentence overturned in 2007, and was resentenced to death in 2008. In a separate case on appeal in 2010, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) found that Dr C’s testimony was inadmissible under Texas law because it was insufficiently reliable, and the trial judge should have excluded it after the defence objected and had a hearing. In a capital case, the specious testimony of a psychiatrist, colored in the eyes of an impressionable jury by the inevitable untouchability of a medical specialist’s words, equates with death itself.”īrent Brewer’s lawyers presented evidence of his good prison record but did not challenge the admissibility of Dr C.’s testimony before, or at a timely point in the 2009 proceeding. Three Justices dissented, arguing that “when a person’s life is at stake…a requirement of greater reliability should prevail. The Court did not dispute the APA’s assertion but placed its faith, “at least for now”, in the adversarial process “to sort out the reliable from the unreliable evidence and opinion about future dangerousness”. He testified by responding to hypothetical scenarios set by the prosecution, and opined that the defendant had no conscience, violence “doesn’t seem to bother him”, he would join a gang in prison, and had a “preference for a knife”.Īs long ago as 1983, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) informed the US Supreme Court (USSC) in a Texas capital case that “the unreliability of psychiatric predictions of long-term future dangerousness is by now an established fact within the profession”. ![]() In 2009, he added that despite Brent Brewer’s lack of violent conduct during nearly two decades on death row, he still believed he would commit such acts in the future. ![]() At Brent Brewer’s resentencing, the prosecution presented a psychiatrist (Dr C.) who testified he would likely commit future violence, the same as he had said at the 1991 sentencing. In Texas, a prerequisite for a death sentence is a jury finding that the defendant will likely commit future acts of criminal violence. Their relationship “helped to undermine his judgment and increase his impulsivity”. Abandonment fears were of particular importance in understanding Mr Brewer’s behavior at the time of the offense, as was his dependent relationship with his co-defendant, ”. He “suffered from brain dysfunction,” which the jury did not learn about, that represented a critically important mitigating factor concerning Mr Brewer’s judgment and decision-making capability. At the time of the crime, he wrote, Brent Brewer “suffered from major depression, severe anxiety,” and “substance abuse, tied to his history of neglect, abuse, and family dysfunction”. A psychologist, who had been involved in the case on appeal in 1996, provided a report to the post-2009 appeal lawyers on mitigating evidence that could have had been presented in 2009. At the 2009 resentencing, the defence put two mitigation witnesses, the defendant’s sister and mother, on the witness stand for a combined 28 minutes. In 2007, Brent Brewer’s death sentence was overturned because of inadequate jury instructions at the 1991 sentencing. In 1992, KN pled guilty to capital murder in the stabbing and was sentenced to life imprisonment. ![]() There he had met KN, who was in the hospital for drug rehabilitation treatment. Weeks before the crime, Brent Brewer had been committed to a state hospital with depression and suicidal ideation. He was fatally stabbed in his truck as he was driving 19-year-old Brent Brewer and his girlfriend (“KN”), 21, who had asked him for a lift. Brent Brewer was sentenced to death after being convicted of the 1990 capital murder during a botched robbery of a 66-year-old man.
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