Lester Bower Jr. (Photo : Reuters)
Lester Bower Jr., 67, the oldest Texas inmate sentenced to death, was executed after 31 years in prison. He was pronounced dead on June 3, Wednesday.
Bower, a chemical salesman, was convicted three decades ago of killing four men. He was found guilty of fatal shootings in 1983 at an airplane hangar on a ranch near Sherman, about 60 miles north of Dallas. He was sentenced to death since the state resumed carrying out the punishment in 1982.
According to investigations, Bower killed the four men after stealing an airplane that he had been trying to buy from one of the victims. According to Yahoo News, Bower's lead lawyer, Peter Buscemi, talked to the justices and urged a reprieve to evaluate the appeal. He also said that Bower's case is not a typical death penalty case.
Texas Assistant Attorney General Stephen Hoffman said that they had enough 30 years of litigation and that the justice has already been long delayed for the four families of men that Bower has slaughtered.
Bower's appeal to review the case was declined in March, although three justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer said that they would have thrown out his death sentence.
The victims were Bob Tate, building contractor and B&B Ranch owner, Philip Good, Grayson county sheriff deputy, Jerry Brown, Sherman interior designer, and Ronald Mayes, a former Sherman police officer.
Initially, Bower lied to his wife and investigators, but he later on acknowledged that he was at the ranch. He said that he left the victims alive and well with the disassembled plane he bought, but he cannot present any receipt of the transaction, ABC reported.
Bower is older than William Chappell, who was executed at the age of 66 in Texas in 2002. He is one of two inmates scheduled for execution this month. The other inmate's schedule will be on June 18.
