Clear and Convincing - Episode 12 - State of Texas v. Lester Leroy Bower

Talk Radio 49

On October 8, 1983, Bob Tate, Jerry Mack Brown, Ronald Mayes and Philip Good were shot in Tate’s ultralight airplane hangar in Sherman, Texas. Their bodies were discovered by Tate's wife and son after Tate failed to come home that evening. Tate’s ultralight, which had been advertised for sale by Good, was missing from the hangar. Bower was identified in January, 1984 when phone records linked 3 calls to Good to a phone calling card provided to Bower by his employer, a chemical company. In his initial interviews with police and FBI agents, who were asked to assist the investigation by the Grayson County Sheriff, Bower lied about everything, including the extent of his contact with Good and Tate, his presence in Sherman and his interest in the ultralight. When police obtained a search warrant, they found aluminum tubing consistent with tubing used in ultralight aircraft, decals removed from an ultralight, wheels with the name “Tate” on them and Jerry Brown’s fingerprints on some of the tubing. Bower was arrested and, in April, 1984, tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Join Lisa O’Brien and Michael Carnahan for Episode 12, State of Texas v. Lester Leroy Bower. We’ll talk about the evidence linking Bower to the murders, his post-conviction claims of actual innocence and his claim that execution after 31 years on death row was “cruel and unusual” punishment.