Father who saved his son From the death penalty
Bart Whitaker was due to be executed last week for the 2003 murders of his mother and brother. He’s alive today only because his dad Kent, who survived the attack, begged the authorities to show mercy
tHE lethal injection lay ready on a side table. The gurney sat waiting in the death chamber where the killer would soon be strapped down. Thomas “Bart” Whitaker had eaten his last meal and said his tearful goodbyes.
Since the death penalty was reinstated in Texas in 1982 this execution chamber in the Huntsville penitentiary has seen 548 inmates killed, almost five times more than any other state in the US.
Bart, who had commissioned the murder of his mother and brother and nearly killed his father in a bid to gain a $1million inheritance, expected to be number 549. But minutes before his execution last week the unthinkable happened: the Texas governor commuted Bart’s death penalty to life imprisonment, saved by pleas from the man he tried to kill – his own father.
Kent Whitaker not only forgave his son but pleaded tirelessly for him to be spared the death penalty. He claimed that his son’s execution would only bring him more pain. Bart admits: “I deserve punishment but my dad did nothing wrong.”
The extraordinary drama began in 2003 when 23-year-old Bart promised two friends thousands of dollars to help kill his family. He lured his parents and brother out for a meal, allowing his roommate Chris Brashear to sneak into their home in the idyllic Houston suburb of Sugar Land in Texas.
When the family returned from dinner Brashear, dressed in dark clothes and a ski mask, shot Bart’s 19-year-old brother Kevin in the chest as he opened the door. As his mother Tricia, 51, screamed for help Brashear gunned her down too. Running to help them, Kent Whitaker was shot in the chest. Bart allowed Brashear to shoot him in the bicep, to make him appear the victim of a struggle.
As Kent lay fighting for his life, having lost his wife of 28 years and his younger son, he turned to his Christian faith vowing to forgive the killer no matter who it was. “As soon as that happened, there was a warm glow that flowed over me,” he says. “It took the fire out of me.” Yet Kent would never have guessed that the man asking his forgiveness would be his own son.
Police soon began to suspect that Bart was involved in the slayings. Despite initially appearing to be a burglary the drawers remained tidy and the only item missing was Bart’s mobile phone. And although Bart had invited his family out to celebrate his forthcoming college graduation, detectives discovered he was not even enrolled in class.
pin Los Angeles OLICE warned that Bart, now 38, could be the killer yet Kent insisted: “I’m not going to abandon my son. I’m going to stand with him even if he’s responsible.” Months later Bart’s friends came forward to confess. Brashear was jailed for life and getaway driver Steven Champagne was sentenced to 15 years.
Bart finally admitted masterminding the attack, saying: “I’m 100 per cent guilty. I wanted them dead.” He blamed his sense of inadequacy, having failed to live up to his expectations. “I wanted revenge for being alive and I blamed them for that. I blamed them for who I was instead of blaming me.”
Surviving near-fatal wounds Kent Whitaker became his son’s staunchest supporter. When the district attorney told Kent he’d be seeking Bart’s execution, his father recalls: “I got down on my knees and said: ‘I’m begging you not to pursue the death penalty.’”
But prosecutors were adamant. For a crime of such premeditated violence only the ultimate penalty would suffice. Once convicted, a SLAIN: l-r, Brother Kevin and mum Tricia with Bart and Kent reprieve seemed almost impossible. Governor Greg Abbott had never granted clemency and in the past 41 years only three death-row inmates had been spared.
But Kent, 69, petitioned relentlessly for his son’s life through the 11 years after the shooting that it took Bart to exhaust his appeals.
Last Thursday Bart faced his final hours housed in a small cell just 30 feet down the corridor from the execution chamber: a 12ft by 9ft room with turquoise walls and a gurney overlooked by a glass viewing window.
In an extraordinary move the Texas board of pardons and paroles unanimously recommended the day before that Bart’s sentence be commuted but Wednesday February 28 2018 previous governors ignored such advice.
Now remarried, Kent and his new wife Tanya visited Bart in his final hours, praying for a last-minute reprieve. “But nothing came and as the visit wore on it became more and more obvious that one wasn’t going to come,” says Kent. “It was extremely sad. We touched the glass and said goodbye.”
As Bart awaited execution in Huntsville he was allowed a final phone call. “It was so painful,” says Tanya. “We told him how much we love him, how much God loves him, and that we were continuing to pray up until the last minute.”
However at the last moment Kent decided not to watch his son die. “I had so many people who’ve witnessed these tell me I should not be there: ‘You don’t want this to be the last memory of your son.’”
Kent was at a nearby house with a prayer group on Thursday night when Bart’s lawyer phoned minutes before the scheduled execution “and told me that the sentence has been commuted. It was overpowering. I was so grateful. Huge relief,” he says.
Ghave freely RANTING the reprieve, Governor Abbott said: “Mr Whitaker’s father, who survived the attempt on his life, passionately opposes the execution of his son. Mr Whitaker’s father insists that he would be victimised again if the state put to death his last remaining immediate family member.”
A grateful Kent said: “I want to thank all of the people all over the world who have prayed for this. I believe that God’s hand was on this. I think it would be hard to explain a 7-to-0 vote on the parole board without having some serious whispers from God in their ears and I thank their prayers for that.”
His life spared, Bart – who now faces life imprisonment without the possibility of parole – said: “I’m thankful for this decision not for me but for my dad.”
But not all were delighted by the clemency. Bart’s mother’s family had pushed for execution and the original prosecutor, Fred Felcman, along with a juror in Bart’s trial, opposed granting a reprieve. “I guess the 12 jurors’ opinion means nothing,” says Felcman, branding the clemency “a total injustice”.
But Kent points to his son’s transformation behind bars and to his becoming a model prisoner, earning a bachelor’s degree in literature and now completing his master’s degree.
And Kent insists he is not betraying the memories of his slain wife and son, saying: “I’m honouring their memory. I know they would not want Bart’s life taken for this. I think this is a day of great hope. He has been given a second chance at life. I believe he’s going to take that and use it.” As for Bart, he says: “I will do my best to uphold my end of the bargain.”