Bart is definitely a bad seed. He went through with it even after having two years to think about what his family meant to him following his first attempt to murder them. Instead of thanking his lucky stars that his parents bought his story, Bart decided to push his luck again. I see theres some pressure in South Africa for its return; thankfully there has never been here since Britain abolished it in the 60s. A series of school robberies got him kicked out of high school, and after that a psychiatrist diagnosed him with delusional paranoid disorder. Instead, Cliff began to pray. Homicide detective Marshall Slot, who appeared on both Forensic Files and the 20/20 episode about the murders, recalled that he thought the operator was joking when she said a shooting of four people had taken place in Sugar Land. While testifying on the stand last week, Alex admitted to lying repeatedly to investigators, family, and law partners about his whereabouts the night of the killings, but denied ever harming Maggie and Paul. If I were a board member confident of my decisions Id be content to be answerable to the public, Helen: The Derek Severs ep: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7geqiz8wb7I [8]:Ch.53[pageneeded] Whitaker denied prosecution claims regarding the insurance profit motive, arguing that the only life insurance policy the family had was for $50,000 on his father's life. Two years before a masked assailant shot them in their own house, Kent and Patricia Whitaker found out that their son had formulated a plan to kill them. Additional factors make the decision more complex.". He also paid someone to drive the getaway car for the assailant, while Bart would stay on the scene and pretend as though he had fought the intruder off himself. "I have had anger with him, extreme anger, Mr. Harpootlian, because what he did with my law firm, my partners, his clients, our clients what he did to his family. [16] Prosecutors presented evidence that although it wasn't Whitaker who shot his family members, he was responsible for the murders because he played the leading part in the conspiracy to commit the murders[19][bettersourceneeded], The prosecution's theory of motive focused on financial gain, with evidence variously described as pointing to Whitaker standing to inherit "about $1.5million" after the death of his parents and brother,[4] or that he had wanted to capitalize on a million-dollar life insurance payout. [12][verification needed][third-party source needed] The trial had lasted six days in total; the "jury deliberat[ed] for 2hours, and sentenced Whitaker to death". First published on February 28, 2023 / 5:23 PM. Brashear shot Kevin once through his chest, and Kevin fell to the floor. Where is he now? When asked about the race of the assailant he said, Maybe black I dont know.. I think his father was partly responsible for the death of his wife and son by buying Barts story the first time and not protecting them from him. And I will do my best to uphold my role in the system. Although opposed to the death penalty, I thought him a proper candidate for it on the ground of consistency with those whose lives were taken for crimes no worse. RR, Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube. The person who fired the gun that killed the victims did not receive the death penalty, but Mr. Whitaker, who did not fire the gun, did get the death penalty. Kent rushed in and was shot in the shoulder with the bullet shattering his humerus. A Texas inmate who was due to be executed for masterminding the murder of his family has been granted commutation shortly before he was due to be put to death. Tricia Whitaker looked up at him, pale and bedraggled, and said, Someone shot us. She was moaning in pain, but still conscious. :https://killerinstinct.supercast.tech/Get 10% Off by visitingBetterHelp.com/instinct!Go stamps.com, click the microphone at the top of the page, and enter code KILLER for a special offer that includes a 4-week trial, free postage, and a digital scale. But investigators couldnt help but notice that the drawers were all neatly pulled out to the exact same length and nothing had been removed from them. Amanda H. Great follow-up story, Rebecca. Download Savage Son now. While I am torn over the question whether one fewer execution is better than no fewer, I find that if execution is to remain the ultimate punishment it must be applied strictly impartially unless as a principle it is to collapse in disrepute. Millions of Americans nearing retirement age with no savings, Top McCarthy aide, House Oversight chair each met with Ashli Babbitt's mother, South Carolina double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh, 100 other charges including financial crimes. Jurors on Wednesday visited the family hunting lodge where Alex Murdaugh's wife, Maggie, and son Paul were killed as prosecutors made their closing arguments in the weekslong murder trial against the South Carolina lawyer. Kent, hold on to this. After a tip came in from Barts high school friend claiming that Bart had plotted to kill his family a few years before, the police zeroed in on him as the mastermind behind the attack. On December 10, 2003, the Whitaker family -- dad Kent, mom Tricia, and their sons Bart and Kevin -- arrived home after an We can agree. I heard yelling and shooting, Brandon stated. [4] He lived there under the false name for over a year. Patricia was then also shot in the chest, also falling to the floor. Serious needling. Bart's brother Kevin entered the family home first and reportedly smiled when he saw the masked Brashear. Would-be Waco whackers. We know little about the family due to the Whitakers secretive nature I sent this regarding his clemency plea: Gov. [16] Evidence was presented that Whitaker had recruited two individuals, Steve Champagne and Chris Brashear, ages24 and 25 at the time of the 2007 trial, respectively,[16][11] Champagne to be the getaway car driver and Brashear to carry out the shootings in Whitaker's plan to murder his immediate family. If it is so considered, my question would be: insofar as there are similar crimes, has this fact materially distinguished execution from life imprisonment in some of those cases? Want more true crime books? He was convicted and eventually committed suicide in prison. Kent spent lots of time with his sons. commutes death sentence for man convicted of masterminding murder of mother, brother", "Driver in SugarLand murder plot gets 15years", "Testimony ends in Whitaker's murder trial", "Reprieve for man who plotted own family's murder", "Father forgives son who had mom, brother killed", "Man condemned in family murder plot loses high court appeal", "Judge sets execution date for SugarLand man who had family killed for $1million inheritance", "Texas Prison System stalls release of public information on executions", "Before the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles / Request for Commutation of Death Sentence to a Lesser Penalty", "A father's plea: Spare my son [Friday letters]", "Members of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles David G. Gutirrez, Chair", "Texas Parole Board Recommends Killer Be Spared From Death", "Texas Governor Weighs Parole Board's Advice on Inmate's Fate", "Governor Abbott commutes death sentence of Thomas Bartlett Whitaker", "[Commutation of death sentence of Thomas Bartlett Whitaker]", "Bart Whitaker talks about eventual execution", "Convicted killer accused of writing, selling book while in prison", "Voices from Solitary: The war of all against all", "Writing for Justice Fellowship 2018-2019", "Death row bloggers get help from victims", "Letters from death row: Faith behind bars", "Works of justice: An interview with Writing for Justice fellow Thomas Bartlett Whitaker", "Buried alive: Stories from inside solitary confinement", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thomas_Bartlett_Whitaker&oldid=1138499579, Recipients of American gubernatorial clemency, California State University, Dominguez Hills alumni, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2022, Wikipedia articles needing factual verification from January 2022, Articles with incomplete citations from January 2022, Articles lacking reliable references from January 2022, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from January 2022, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing expert attention from January 2022, Articles needing cleanup from January 2022, Cleanup tagged articles with a reason field from January 2022, Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from January 2022, Pages using infobox person with multiple parents, Pages using infobox criminal with motive parameter, All articles with vague or ambiguous time, Vague or ambiguous time from January 2022, Articles with multiple maintenance issues, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from January 2022, Articles to be expanded from January 2022, All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from January 2022, Articles covered by WikiProject Wikify from January 2022, All articles covered by WikiProject Wikify, Wikipedia articles in need of updating from January 2022, All Wikipedia articles in need of updating, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Bart Whitaker was found guilty of capital murder that occurred on Dec. 10, 2003, when an assailant entered the Whitaker home in the Sugar Lakes subdivision and killed Barts mother, Trisha, 56 years old, and his brother, Kevin, 19. The Stanleys were watching a family show. As if, for me, the death penalty isnt capricious enough, cases like this make an utter tragic farce of it. In 2003, Thomas Bart Whitaker plotted the murder of his family. Whatever awful things weve done, kindness and mercy in the form of showing this man that he isnt forgotten while he contemplates that most terrible of punishments, is always right. [16] Hipp, who admitted on cross-examination that his participation in Whitaker's schemes had been "motivated by money" police testified that Whitaker stood to inherit the family estate, valued at $1million further testified that in December2000, prior to the murders of which he stood accused, Whitaker had made another preempted plan, this time to "ambush his parents and brother as they entered their home after a dinner outing", a plan noted by the Houston Chronicle to be "virtually identical to the one [Champagne would soon testify] was actually carried out three years later. Gunman Brashear pleaded guilty to murder in 2007 to murder and is currently serving life in prison. Prosecutors contend Murdaugh thought he was about to get caught stealing and killed Maggie and Paul to buy time to cover up the money trail. The goal was to refute a defense expert who said moving an iPhone causes its backlight to come on. He was having a relaxing evening watching television. This site uses cookies to improve user experience. Compare his with another Texas case that ended in death one in which the perp was encouraged by another to kill her parents (no excuse, but not under his OWN initiative, unlike Whitaker), in which there was no significant, repeated premeditation, unlike of Whitaker, where the initiator the daughter didnt get the death penalty, and where this offender is widely considered to have exhibited genuine remorse: https://murderpedia.org/male.D/d1/dillingham-jeffrey.htm, One lives; one dies. His mother and brother were murdered, and his father was seriously hurt. [44] Ira Wells, in particular, points to Whitaker's participation in the program to exemplify the questions, declaring Whitaker's prison writing powerful in its ability to "shock readers into a sensory appreciation of the radical strangeness of [his] life lived". The hurting of the innocent in executing their loved ones is one consideration in the legitimacy of capital punishment but it cannot arbitrarily apply to this case and not so many others that it has not done, nor will do. He could still be here. She began to moan againonly this time, it seemed more drawn out and painful than before. His voice was barely audible. The recommendation of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, and my action on it, ensures Mr. Whitaker will never be released from prison. P.O. [16] After closing arguments, the case went to the jury. Kent was also hit in the upper body but survived, and Bart escaped with a wound to his upper arm. WebThe Mysterious Saga of the Whitaker Family Murders Family Shot in the Chest. I will do my best to uphold my role in the shoulder with the bullet shattering his.! 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