Lester Leroy Bower

Case overview

Lester Leroy Bower Jr., a chemical salesman from Arlington, Texas, was convicted of capital murder after four people were found shot to death in an airplane hangar on the B&B Ranch north of Dallas. A state district judge sentenced him to death by injection. His conviction was appealed automatically to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Timeline

• three months after — Four bodies were found shot to death execution-style in an airplane hangar on the B&B Ranch north of Dallas.
• April 1984 (Friday) — Bower was convicted.
• April 29, 1984 — The New York Times reported that Bower was sentenced to death after closing statements; jurors deliberated one hour and 10 minutes before recommending death; State District Judge R. C. Vaughan pronounced four separate sentences of death by injection; the case would be appealed automatically to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
• May 10, 1984 — Bower was sentenced to death.
• 1989 — Questions about Bower’s conviction were raised when a woman reading a newspaper article about an appeal filed in Bower’s case called one of Bower’s attorneys and said her ex-boyfriend and three of his friends were responsible for the slayings; the identity of the woman and the names of the four men she implicated were sealed by court order.
• July 22, 2008 (scheduled) — A state district judge stopped the scheduled July 22 execution to consider evidence not available in 1984 and agreed to consider Bower’s request for examination of evidence for DNA testing.
• July 17, 2008 — Bower’s lawyers requested review of their DNA request.
• 2008 (at age 60) — Bower said from Texas death row that he was hoping evidence would bring the verdict into question.

The offence

Four people were found shot to death in an airplane hangar on the B&B Ranch north of Dallas. The authorities said the motive was the theft of an ultralight aircraft, valued at about $4,000, that one of the victims, Robert Tate, had advertised for sale.

The victims were:

• Robert Tate, a building contractor and owner of the hangar.
• Phillip Good, a Grayson County sheriff’s deputy.
• Ronald Mayes, formerly a police officer in Sherman.
• Jerry Mack Brown, a self-employed house remodeler (referred to as an interior designer in later account).

Investigation

Bower’s fingerprints were not found at the scene. No witnesses saw Bower there. No murder weapon was recovered. Bower did not confess.

Investigators seized on Bower when Good’s phone records showed three calls from Bower charged on his company telephone credit card.

A search of Bower’s home turned up parts of Tate’s ultralight aircraft missing from the hangar.

Arrest / charging

Three months after the four bodies were found shot to death in the hangar, chemical salesman Lester Leroy Bower Jr. was charged with capital murder.

Trial

A Grayson County jury deliberated two hours before convicting Bower. The jury deliberated another two hours the next day to decide he should die for the crime.

In the later account, it was reported that closing statements occurred and jurors deliberated one hour and 10 minutes before recommending death.

State District Judge R. C. Vaughan pronounced four separate sentences of death by injection.

Ronald Sievert, a federal prosecutor named as a special prosecutor to assist in Bower’s trial, said:

"There is no question in my mind that Bower is guilty,"

Karla Hackett, an assistant Grayson County district attorney handling the appeals on the case, said:

"There is no question in my mind that Bower is guilty," and "There is no question in my mind that Bower is guilty," (Note: the record includes this quote as attributed by name in the account; exact repetition is preserved only as it appears.)

Sentencing

Bower was sentenced to death by injection.

The New York Times reported that Judge R. C. Vaughan pronounced four separate sentences of death by injection on April 29, 1984, and that the case would be appealed automatically to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Appeals

A state district judge stopped a scheduled July 22, 2008 execution to consider evidence not available in 1984 and agreed to consider Bower’s request that evidence be examined for DNA testing.

Bower’s attorneys said they wanted to examine whether substances on items removed from the crime scene matched DNA of any of the four men they claimed were the real killers. They sought review of their DNA request on July 17.

Bower said:

"I’m hoping somebody will take a look at it and say there seems to be enough to bring the verdict into question and there is a likelihood this is a miscarriage of justice,"
"That’s probably the best I can hope for."

Prosecutors said DNA testing was a delaying tactic.

Hackett said the appeal should be rejected, and described the woman’s credibility issues.

In 1989, a woman who had been reading a newspaper article about an appeal filed in Bower’s case called one of Bower’s attorneys to say her ex-boyfriend and three of his friends were responsible for the slayings, describing the result as a drug deal gone bad. The identity of the woman and the names of the four men she implicated were sealed by court order. The men were identified in court filings as Rocky, Ches, Lynn and Bear.

Bower’s attorneys pointed to FBI reports that initially suggested the four slayings possibly were drug or gambling related.

Bower’s lawyers also questioned whether he could have driven the 135 miles from the hangar to his house in less than two hours. His wife testified he was home by 6:30 p.m. The killings occurred between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m.

Defence / alibi details

Bower said he lied:

"I lied to the FBI about my involvement" in the purchase of the plane,
"I wish it hadn’t happened."

Bower said:

"If you haven’t done anything wrong, there’s absolutely no reason to lie to the police — ever,"

Bower said Brown was with Good that Saturday afternoon. Bower said they all waited about 15 minutes for Tate to show up with a key to the hangar. Bower said Tate welcomed him to return to use the facilities.

Bower said he never saw Mayes.

Tate had told his wife that he and Good were going to meet someone they believed wanted to buy their plane.

Other case details

Bower was described as having a long marriage, two daughters, and no record of criminal activity or mental-health problems. He was described as a Texas A&M University graduate with a good job, stable marriage, soccer dad, and no history of childhood abuse, and no previous criminal record.

Prosecutors said Bower just snapped and that his behavior had made investigators suspicious. They said he lied to his wife and authorities about his efforts to buy an ultralight plane. Prosecutors said he sold firearms on the side, including the kind that carried the ammunition used to kill the men.

Bower was described as currently on Texas death row and as 60 years old at the time he spoke.

The case account also included photographs and references to Lester Leroy Bower Jr. in an undated photo provided by the Grayson County District Clerk’s office, in Sherman, Texas.