Newspaper Page Text
NATION
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Wednesday, December 12, 2018 5A
Man who killed newlywed during
1993 robbery executed in Texas
Braziel
BY JUAN A. LOZANO
AND MICHAEL GRACZYK
Associated Press
HUNTSVILLE, Texas -
A Texas inmate was
executed Tuesday
evening for fatally
shooting a man dur
ing a robbery more
than 25 years ago.
Alvin Braziel Jr.,
43, received lethal
injection at the
state penitentiary
in Huntsville for
the 1993 slaying of
27-year-old Douglas White,
who was attacked as he and
his wife walked on a trail.
Braziel became the 24th
inmate put to death this year
in the U.S. and the 13th in
Texas, the nation’s busiest
capital punishment state. He
will be the last Texas inmate
executed this year.
The execution was delayed
about 90 minutes after the
six-hour window defined by
the warrant began at 6 p.m.
The Texas Court of Crimi
nal Appeals rejected a last-
minute appeal from Braziel’s
attorneys.
As Douglas and Lora
White walked along a com
munity college jogging trail
in the Dallas suburb of Mes
quite, Braziel jumped out
from behind some bushes
with a pistol in his hand and
demanded money.
The Whites, who had only
been married 10 days, didn’t
have any money on them
but told Braziel they could
get him some and
t they started walking
^ back to their truck.
B But Braziel became
angry with the
couple and ordered
them to the ground.
“Doug ...was pray
ing, asked God to for
give him and Lora
their sins because
they both knew that this was
it,” said Michael Bradshaw,
the lead detective on the case
for Mesquite police. “The
last thing Doug said before
Braziel fired the first round,
he said, ‘Please God, don’t let
him hurt Lora.’”
Braziel shot White once
in the head and once in his
heart.
Bradshaw said he believes
Braziel would have also shot
then-24-year-old Lora White
but his gun malfunctioned.
Braziel instead took her to
bushy area near the trail and
sexually assaulted her.
Douglas White’s murder
was featured on the televi
sion show “America’s Most
Wanted” and a $20,000
reward was raised by the
chiropractic college he had
worked for as an electrician.
Bradshaw said more than 40
potential suspects were inter
rogated and had their blood
drawn for testing.
But White’s murder
remained unsolved for over
seven years.
“I really didn’t know that
I would ever be able to solve
it. But I really did not give up
hope,” said Bradshaw, 63,
who retired from Mesquite
police in 2012.
Braziel was eventually tied
to the killing in 2001 after he
was imprisoned for sexual
assault in an unrelated case
and his DNA
in 2002 that people convicted
of murder who are intel
lectually disabled cannot be
executed.
Braziel’s attorneys later
withdrew their request.
Courts had previously
turned down Braziel’s
appeals that have focused
on claims of mental illness
and that he had suffered a
childhood brain injury, say
ing Braziel refused to be
examined by a mental health
expert during his trial and
that his family declined to
help his defense attorneys
obtain evidence of any men
tal health prob-
matched evi- 1 really didn’t lems in Braziel’s
know that I
would ever
be able to
solve it. But I
dence from Lora
White’s assault.
At his trial, Bra
ziel said he wasn’t
near the college
during the killing.
Braziel’s attor
neys didn’t imme
diately reply to 1t ,
emails and calls really Q1Q not
seeking comment . .
on Tuesday. give Up hope.
Last week, his ... . .
lawyers asked the MlCliaei
Texas Court of Bradshaw
Criminal Appeals Lead detective
to stop his execu
tion, arguing he should not be
executed because he is intel
lectually disabled.
The Supreme Court held
family.
His attorneys
also filed a last-
minute appeal
Tuesday, arguing
that an emotional
outburst at the
2001 murder trial
from Lora White
was unfairly
elicited by pros
ecutors when she
was shown on the
witness stand a
photo of her hus
band’s autopsied
body.
Bradshaw said he still
keeps in contact with Lora
White and that she started a
new life and is doing well.
No jail sentence for former frat president
Roads still pose
threat after storm
BY JONATHAN DREW
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH, N.C. -
Seesawing temperatures
across several southern
states were gradually
melting snow from a win
try storm, but also “trans
forming slushy roads into
treacherous ice” during
the morning commute, one
governor warned Tuesday.
Sunny skies in North
Carolina and Virginia were
helping to thaw out snow
drifts left behind by the
weekend storm, but tem
peratures were expected
to plunge again, refreez
ing moisture on the roads
Wednesday morning.
North Carolina’s governor
also warned that runoff
from melting snow could
combine with an expected
rainstorm this week to
increase the flooding threat
along some rivers.
The storm was blamed
for at least three deaths in
North Carolina. Some roofs
buckled under the weight
of the snow, with a build
ing collapse killing three
horses at a farm in Gaston
County, North Carolina.
Tens of thousands of people
were without power in sev
eral states.
North Carolina Gov.
Roy Cooper urged people
in hard-hit areas to still
think twice about driving.
Secondary roads in some
places haven’t been plowed
and temperatures were
expected to dip into the 20s
or teens again overnight,
creating the potential for
icy spots again Wednesday
as melted snow refreezes
even on roads that have
been cleared.
“My message is simple:
If conditions in your area
are still dangerous, don’t
take the risk,” the governor
said. “Sit tight and wait for
the sunshine and safety.”
Overall, the North
Carolina Highway Patrol
has responded to 2,300
accidents since the storm
blew in, with some new
accidents reported on
spotty patches of ice early
Tuesday.
“Frigid temperatures
descended on North
Carolina last night, trans
forming slushy roads into
treacherous ice,” Cooper
said Tuesday.
And with rain forecast
for Thursday and Friday,
Cooper urged residents
along rivers to “be alert for
any flood warnings from
local officials.”
Cooper said 60 school
districts remain closed
after the storm dumped
more than 2 feet of snow in
western parts of the state. A
National Weather Service
map indicates that more
than a third of the state’s
100 counties had accumu
lations of 6 inches or more.
BY NOMAAN MERCHANT
Associated Press
HOUSTON — In a case
with echoes of the furor
involving a Stanford Uni
versity swimmer two years
ago, advocates for sex-crime
victims say the plea bargain
that enabled a former Bay
lor University fraternity
president to stay out of jail is
a failure by the legal system.
“What’s similar is that
violence against women is
not taken seriously by the
legal system,” said Michele
Dauber, a Stanford law pro
fessor who led the successful
campaign to recall the judge
in the swimmer’s case. “The
handling of sexual assault in
the criminal justice system
has been inappropriate, and
sort of shockingly so, for a
really longtime.”
In the Texas case, Jacob
Walter Anderson, 23, had
been charged with sexually
assaulting a 19-year-old fel
low Baylor student outside
a 2016 fraternity party. The
woman told police she was
given punch and became
disoriented. She said Ander
son led her behind a tent and
raped her while choking her.
Prosecutors offered him a
deal in which he pleaded no
contest in October to unlaw
ful restraint. State District
Judge Ralph Strother sen
tenced him under the terms
of the deal Monday to proba
tion, counseling and a $400
fine. He will not have to reg
ister as a sex offender.
The woman’s lawyer, Vic
Feazell, said she and her
family found out about the
plea bargain from reading
the newspaper.
“He stole my body, vir
ginity and power over my
body,” the woman said in a
statement she read in court
Monday. She said the out
come shows that the justice
system in McLennan County,
where Baylor is located, is
“severely broken.”
Toni Van Pelt, president
of the National Organization
for Women, said Anderson
should have been sent to jail
and required to register as a
sex offender.
“File that under
men protecting men
instead of victims
and women,” she
said.
The judge, Ander
son’s lawyers and
prosecutors did
not return calls for
comment. But Dis
trict Attorney Abel Reyna
defended the plea bargain
back in October, saying
prosecutors “achieved the
best result possible with the
evidence at hand.” He said
the evidence did not support
the allegation that the victim
may have been drugged.
Many were outraged by
the judge’s grant of proba
tion to at least two other men
accused of sexually assault
ing Baylor students, as well
as an email one of the prose
cutors sent the woman’s law-
Anderson
yer in which she suggested
jurors would take Ander
son’s side because there was
just one alleged victim.
“It’s my opinion that our
jurors aren’t ready to blame
rapists and not victims when
there isn’t concrete proof
of more than one
victim,” prosecu
tor Hilary LaBorde
wrote in an email.
LaBorde has
been recognized by
Texas prosecutors
for her expertise
in sex-crime cases.
As Baylor was in a
scandal a few years
ago that led to the football
coach’s firing and the presi
dent’s removal, she won con
victions against two football
players for sexual assault.
Stanford’s Dauber said the
judge should have rejected
the plea agreement. The
defendant could have got
ten up to 20 years in prison if
convicted of sexual assault.
Instead, Dauber said,
“the crimes are systemati
cally minimized, the harm is
minimized. The message is
somehow sent that this is not
that serious.”
Anderson was expelled
from Baylor after a univer
sity investigation.
In the Stanford case,
athlete Brock Turner was
convicted of sexual assault,
and California Judge Aaron
Persky sentenced him to
six months in jail, which
was widely criticized as too
lenient. Voters eventually
removed the judge from the
bench after a campaign that
raised more than $2 million
in contributions nationwide.
Texas does not have recall
elections for judges, but
Strother’s term expires in
2020.
abersham
treat
'Assisted Care Community
Now Offers a New Assisted Living Home
Located <8> 258 Park Ave Baldwin GA
The
uite Life
Come by for a visit. Prebook one
of our new rooms that you can
make your very own.
www.habershamretreat.com
Call us @
706-499-6842
•Gift baskets
•Embroidery
•Unique gifts
•Screen printing
•Balloons for all occasions
•Full Service Pharmacy
•Free Local Delivery
Compounding Unit Dose
Packaging
Hiveriide 'Pharmacy
935 Green St., Gainesville, GA
770.532.6253 • callriversidepharmacy.com
Little & Davenport
Funeral Home
To inquire about pricing packages available to
memorialize a pet in print, please contact Megan Lewis
at 770-535-6371 or mlewis@gainesvilletimes.com
Pets at Peace will appear in The Times
the last Sunday of each month.
CALL NOW & SAVE UP TO 84%
ON YOUR NEXT PRESCRIPTION
Drug Name Qty (pills) Price*
Retin-A Cream 0.05% 50 g $79.99
Vivelle-Dot 50mcg 24 patches $124.99
Voltaren Emulgel 1% 300 g $84.99
Armour Thyroid 60 mg 100 $69.99
Dexilant60mg 90 $339.99
Onglyza 5mg 84 $309.99
EffexorXR 150 mg 100 $39.99
Boniva150mg 3 $69.99
Tricor145mg 90 $139.99
Pradaxa150mg 180 $474.99
Synthroid 100mcg 90 $59.99
QVAR 80mcg 400 ds $134.99
Finacea Gel 15% 90 $134.99
Uloric40mg 90 $174.99
Breo Ellipta 10Omcg725mcg 90 ds $399.99
Jublia 10% 24 ml $489.99
Tradjenta 5mg 90 $349.99
Nasonex50mcg 420 ds $94.99
V" Over 1500 Medications available
V' Price Match Guarantee
Call for Free Price Quote
Prescriptions Required
V' CIPA Certified
Toll Free Phone
1-800-267-2688
Toll Free Fax
1-800-563-3822
Drug Name Qty (pills)
Price*
Viagra 100mg
16
$47.99
Viagra 50mg
16
$44.99
Cialis 5mg
90
$149.99
Cialis 20mg
20
$134.99
Levitra 20mg
30
$129.99
Stendra 200mg
16
$259.99
Spiriva 18mcg
90
$189.99
Advair250mcg/50mcg
180 ds
$204.99
Vagifem 10mcg
24
$114.99
Premarin 0.625mg
84
$94.99
Combivent18mcg/103mcg 600 ds
$139.99
Symbicort 160mcg/4.5mcg 360 ds
$214.99
Entocort3mg
100
$129.99
Januvia 100mg
84
$259.99
Aggrenox 200mg/25mg
200
$139.99
Abilify 5mg
84
$139.99
Colcrys0.6mg
100
$109.99
Ventolin 90mcg
600 ds
$79.99
Vytorin 10mg/40mg
90
$154.99
Xifaxan 550mg
100
$169.99
Asacol 800mg
300
$249.99
Vesicare 10mg
100
$164.99
Ranexa ER 500mg
200
$189.99
Myrbetriq 50mg
90
$364.99
Adigall 300mg
300
$224.99
Bystolic 5mg
84
$114.99
Eliquis 5mg
168
$604.99
Spiriva Respimat 2.5mcg
180 ds
$234.99
Namenda 10 mg
84
$29.99
Premique0.3mg/1.5mg
84
$104.99
Estring 7.5mcg/24hr
1
$119.99
Restasis 0.05 %
90 ds
$224.99
Combigan 0.2%/0.5%
15 ml
$139.99
Azilect 1 mg
100
$324.99
Janumet50mg/1000mg
168
$329.99
Lumigan 0.01%
9 ml
$79.99
FloventHFA 110mcg
360 ds
$159.99
Jardiance 25 mg
90
$415.99
All pricing in U.S dollars and subject to change without notice. "We accept
Amex, Electronic Checking, Personal Check or International Money Order."
*Prices shown are for the equivalent generic drug if available.*
TotalCareMart.com
Savings made easy
1-800-267-2688
www.Tota I Ca re M a rt .co m
Mailing Address: ORDER PROCESSING CENTER, P0 BOX 121 STN L,
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, R3H 0Z4, CANADA
CODE CP59