David M. Brewer (April 22, 1959 – April 29, 2003) was the seventh person executed by the state of
Ohio since it reinstated the
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
in 1981. Brewer died by
lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...
on April 29, 2003, after spending 17 years and six months on
death row
Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...
. He was
convicted of the 1985
murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...
of 21-year-old Sherry Byrne, the wife of a college fraternity brother.
After his indictment by a
grand jury
A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...
, Brewer waived his right to a jury and elected to be tried by a
three-judge panel
A judicial panel is a set of judges who sit together to hear a cause of action, most frequently an appeal from a ruling of a trial court judge. Panels are used in contrast to single-judge appeals, and hearings, which involves all of the judges of ...
. He was found guilty on September 19, 1985, and sentenced to death in October 1985. His subsequent appeals at the state and federal levels were unsuccessful, as was his request for executive clemency.
At 10:00 a.m. on April 29, 2003, Brewer was led into the execution chamber at the state prison in
Lucasville, Ohio. He was declared dead at 10:20 a.m.
See also
*
Capital punishment in Ohio
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Ohio, although all executions have been suspended indefinitely by Governor Mike DeWine until a replacement for lethal injection is chosen by the Ohio General Assembly. The last execution ...
*
Capital punishment in the United States
In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty throughout the country at the federal level, in 27 states, and in American Samoa. It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses. Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 s ...
*
List of people executed in Ohio
*
List of people executed in the United States in 2003
This is a list of people executed in the United States in 2003. A total of sixty-five people, all male, were executed in the United States in 2003, sixty-four by lethal injection and one by electrocution.
List of people executed in the United Sta ...
General references
Clark Prosecutor* "Ohio's Seventh Execution Since 1999; Killer Offers No Final Apology" ''Columbus Dispatch'' (Ohio). April 30, 2003
* ''State v. Brewer'', 1996 Ohio App. LEXIS 2517
* ''State v. Brewer'', 1988 Ohio App. LEXIS 3492
''2005 Capital Crimes Report''(PDF) Office of the Ohio Attorney General.
External links
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Executions carried out in Ohio
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Executions carried out in the United States
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brewer, David M.
1959 births
2003 deaths
1985 murders in the United States
21st-century executions by Ohio
American people executed for murder
21st-century executions of American people
People executed by Ohio by lethal injection
People convicted of murder by Ohio
People from Middletown, Ohio
American rapists
Executed people from Ohio