Troy Brewer was on his knees with his hands in front of his face when his teenage son fired a bullet from a 9mm Glock handgun into the man’s body, according to a theory developed by Tarrant County prosecutors.
After Carl Brewer killed his adoptive father in the family’s Crowley home, the 17-year-old used, prosecutors allege, dolly platforms and rope to drag the 60-year-old from the master bedroom to the shower.
“For the blood to be drained,” Tarrant County Assistant Criminal Prosecutor Anthony Salinas told a jury in the state’s opening statement Wednesday as testimony began in Carl Brewer’s capital murder trial in the 485th Circuit Court. District.
Mary Brewer, 64, was lying in the living room. Carl Brewer also shot his adoptive mother, once in the neck, prosecutors allege. He zipped her body into a sleeping bag cover and placed it in a stroller, it is alleged. A plastic bag was over his head.
Mary Brewer may have been sitting when Carl Brewer shot her, according to prosecutors’ theory that is based on the trajectory of the bullet and the height of the mother and son. She also appears to have used her hands to block her head when she was shot.
During the two nights following the November 2016 murders, Carl Brewer stayed home with the bodies of their parents.
Troy Brewer was a pilot for American Airlines. Mary Brewer was a nurse who worked at a Veterans Affairs hospital.
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Their carotid arteries were pierced by a bullet and they died within minutes after extensive blood loss, testified Dr. Mark Shelly, a forensic pathologist.
After smoking marijuana, Carl Brewer told a friend that he had killed his parents, and the friend called 911 to report Brewer’s statement, according to a recording of the call prosecutors played for the jury. Officers found the bodies in the home in the 800 block of Buffalo Court, and after an hour-long encounter with SWAT, Carl Brewer was arrested.
Now 25 years old, Carl Brewer is represented by criminal defense attorneys Jack Strickland and Steve Gebhardt. Strickland on Wednesday delayed offering an opening statement until after the state rests. Salinas is prosecuting the case with Tarrant County Assistant Criminal Prosecutor Lloyd Whelchel.
A magistrate concluded in April 2019 that the defendant was incompetent to stand trial and was taken to a state mental health center for treatment. A psychologist concluded in March 2020 that Brewer was competent to stand trial, a determination that was also made earlier this year.
Brewer was indicted in February 2017 under a law that alleges he intentionally and knowingly caused the deaths of multiple people at the same time.
In its presentation during jury selection, the defense suggested that it may argue that the evidence suggests that one of the killings was a homicide and the other was a manslaughter, a reckless homicide, or that the deaths were justified by self-defense.
Judge Steven Jumes presides over the trial.
During an off-the-record portion of an evidence suppression hearing in which the defense was expected to argue that the defendant had not voluntarily waived his right to opt out of a custody interview, Brewer tried five times to get the judge’s attention, asking, “Your honor. ?
Judge Jumes told the defendant he would consider Brewer’s statements or questions, but warned that the comments could be unhelpful or cause damage to his case. The defendant’s attorneys met with Brewer in a room adjacent to the courtroom known as the remainder.
After leaving with his client and colleague Gebhardt, Strickland appeared disturbed that Brewer refused to follow his advice not to speak to the judge.
Officially, but outside the presence of the jury, Strickland reprimanded his client. The defense attorney pointed to a screen that showed a still image of a Crowley Police Department interrogation room, in which Brewer answered detectives’ questions.
Participating in the interview was a mistake, Strickland said, and Brewer was about to make a similar mistake.
Brewer seemed intent on repeating legal mistakes, Strickland told the defendant, “until they put him in the penitentiary for the rest of his life.”
Undeterred, Brewer told Judge Jumes that he did not remember waiving his right not to answer police questions, but also suggested it was a conscious waiver. A state district court is not the appropriate venue for the case, the defendant argued.
“I do not agree with your legal assessment,” Judge Jumes said before ruling that the defendant’s statements to police can be presented to the jury.
If he is convicted of capital murder, Brewer will be automatically sentenced to life in prison and will become eligible for parole after serving 40 years.
The trial is in recess until Thursday morning.
