For 29 years behind bars, former Arlington resident Lester Leroy Bower has insisted that he is innocent. On Oct. 29, in a state court in Sherman, Bower and his lawyers could get what might be their final chance to prove it.
The hearing before state District Judge Jim Fallon could include testimony from Bower himself and evidence that defense lawyers have said points to others in the October 1983 massacre of four men in a Grayson County airplane hangar."I'm anxious," said Shari Bower, the condemned man's wife. "I don't know what will happen. We're pretty much down to the wire. He [Lester Bower] doesn't share that much, but I know that he's ready to get on with it. He's been frustrated just sitting down there."Bower, who will turn 65 in November and is the fourth-oldest man on Death Row, was arrested in January 1984, three months after Bob Tate, Ronald Mayes, Jerry Mack Brown and Philip Good were found shot to death in the hangar 5 miles east of Sherman. Bower, a chemical salesman, acknowledged visiting the hangar on the afternoon of the killings to buy an ultralight plane from Tate. But when first questioned by investigators, Bower repeatedly denied the visit, lies that likely played a large role in his conviction.Parts of the ultralight were later found at Bower's residence, and he also owned the same kind of weapon and exotic ammunition used in the slayings."I realized that I had no idea about what I may have gotten myself into or what I may have literally just missed," Bower said in a prison interview four years ago. "If I came forward, what might happen about the safety of my family? And once you kind of start a lie, it just kind of grows and it rolls along."Five years after his conviction, a woman contacted Bower's attorneys saying that the Arlington man was innocent and that she knew the identity of the real killers. One of them, she said, was her ex-boyfriend, who said he had committed the crimes with three other men in a drug deal gone bad."I don't want Mr. Bower to die for something he didn't do," the witness, who has never been publicly identified, said in a 2008 interview with the Star-Telegram.Her statements are at the heart of defense efforts to save Bower's life. In 2008, Fallon delayed his scheduled execution and granted a defense motion to test hair fibers and cigarette butts from the crime scene.Bower's lawyers hoped to obtain genetic evidence linking the new suspects to the crime. It has taken four years for the tests to be finished, and they were inconclusive, said Grayson County prosecutor Karla Hackett."It proves nothing, one way or another, as we said four years ago when this whole thing started," Hackett said.A key question in this month's hearing concerns whether Fallon will consider the statements of the new witness and other evidence that might incriminate others.At the time of Bower's conviction, Texas law precluded consideration of evidence discovered more than 30 days after a conviction.That law has since changed. This month's hearing would be the first time during the appeals process that Bower's lawyers could argue for his innocence in court.Fallon and defense lawyers declined to be interviewed, but Shari Bower said she hopes the Oct. 29 hearing will lead to a new trial for her husband."This newly discovered evidence warrants getting in front of a jury," she said. "A new trial, a new jury, that would be our goal. What does it hurt to give somebody a chance instead of killing them if there is any doubt? Let the jury decide. Why not make sure you're not wrong?"Tim Madigan, (817) 390-7544Twitter: @tsmadiganHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
