06/08/2015 // JusticeNewsFlash // (press release)
Huntsville, TX – A Texas prisoner convicted in the slayings of four men over 30 years ago has been executed. As reported by the Associated Press, 67-year-old Lester Bower Jr. is the oldest prisoner to be put to death in the state since the administration of capital punishment was resumed in Texas.
Bower was convicted of killing four men at an airplane hanger approximately 60 miles north of Dallas in 1983. According to prosecutors, he committed the act after stealing an airplane that he attempted to purchase from one of the victims.
Approximately three hours prior to the execution, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Bower’s attorney. The lawyer contended that trial jurors were not given an opportunity during deliberations about punishment to consider that Bower did not have a past criminal record, and that an incorrect legal standard had been used in the denial of his appeal years prior.
Bower was pronounced dead 18 minutes after being administered a lethal dose of pentobarbital. While in the death chamber he reportedly said, “Much has been said about this case. Much has been written about this case. Not all of it has been the truth… But the time for discerning truth is over and it's time to move on.”
The four men killed in the fatal shooting were B&B Ranch owner Bob Tate, 51; Philip Good, 29, a Grayson County Sheriff's Deputy; Jerry Brown, 52, an interior designer in Sherman; and Ronald Mayes, 39, a former Sherman police officer.
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